The Nigerian Army says its ongoing operation in Oyigbo is not targeted at innocent persons but criminals who killed innocent citizens including six soldiers and carted away their weapons.
This was made known by the Public Relations Officer of 6 Division of the Nigerian Army, Major Charles Ekeocha while speaking on Nigerian Info ,a Port Harcourt based radio station on Friday.
According to him, the Army operatives are doing stop and search to see if they could recover the rifles carted away by the so called members of the Indigenous People of Biafra(IPOB) saying the soldiers are very professional about it
He said the places the soldiers are clearing were possible hideouts for crimnnals and weapons adding that if the Army failed to retrieve the weapons, the criminals could use them on innocent people.
The Proscribed IPOB under the guise of#EndSARS protest killed 3 policemen and six soldiers while carting away weapons and setting police stations and vehicles on fire.
Oyigbo had been a hotbed of tension in recent time.Prior to the#EndSARS protest which degenerated to the worst form of carnage seen in the country lately, no week passed without an incident of killing.
Caro a middle-aged resident of Oyigbo town said before the protest ,Oyigbo was on fire as there was always commotion and death among non indigenes resident in the area and said it was good that the military had come to secure the place.
” Before now,they were killing people in Oyigbo.Thank God Army has come.I t is painful that we have to go through this, but it is better that soldiers are here “
