PREMIUM TIMES
Simon Ekpa, a controversial Biafra agitator, has claimed responsibility for the killing of four police operatives in Owerri, Imo State, south-east Nigeria.
The killing
PREMIUM TIMES earlier reported that gunmen attacked and killed four police operatives along the Onitsha-Owerri Expressway at about 6:30 p.m. on Monday.
Aside from the operatives, the hoodlums also shot dead a woman – a Point on Sale (PoS) machine operator – in the area.
Mr Ekpa, a Nigerian who is based in Finland, heads Autopilot, a faction of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).
The Biafra agitator also founded Biafra Defence Forces and Biafra Liberation Army, which are armed militant wings of the Autopilot IPOB.
He has been linked to some deadly attacks in the region.
Ekpa claims responsibility
In a post on his X handle shortly after the attack, Mr Ekpa announced that members of his Biafra Defence Forces had killed the operatives in Owerri.
“The Biafra Defence Forces Owerri Command has recovered weapons from the terrorists after neutralising them in numbers,” he wrote on the microblogging platform at exactly 8:50 p.m. on Monday.
Mr Ekpa, a Nigerian-Finnish citizen, often refers to Nigerian security operatives as “terrorists.”
The Biafra agitator said he and his group are demanding the withdrawal of all Nigerian security forces from the South-east and that they were committed to enforcing the demand.
“If you think you will continue to use force and terrorism tactics to force us to remain in the union, this will continue to be your faith in Biafraland,” Mr Ekpa stated, referring to the latest attack on the police.
The Biafra agitator often shares on his X handle details of attacks in Nigeria’s south-east.
READ THE FULL STORY IN PREMIUM TIMES
