The Abia State Police Command has debunked claims by the leadership of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) that its personnel were planning to arrest the father of its leader, Nnamdi Kanu.
IPOB had at the weekend raised alarm about the presence of policemen and other security personnel around the home of their leader. This is even as they (IPOB) claimed that the target of the security agencies was to arrest Kanu’s father who reportedly arrived his compound almost two years after his compound was invaded by soldiers.
In a telephone interview with reporter on Monday, the State Police Commissioner, CP Ene Okon said “What IPOB has given to you people is completely false.
“As a matter of fact, we received intelligence report that IPOB is going to have a meeting in Nnamdi Kanu’s house.
“They prepared also for a protest over the alleged killing of their members during the operation Python Dance and as an organization that is charged with maintenance of law and order and to ensure peace, based on the intelligence that we gathered, we have to fortify the already existing police points within the area which has been there for the past two years.
“All that we did is to put in more number of police in that area to ensure that there is peace in that area. No policeman entered Nnamdi Kanu’s house or his father’s house.
“IPOB is pushing out propaganda to blackmail the police. The police didn’t even know whether Nnandi Kanu’s father is at home or not. Under what offence will the police go to arrest Nnamdi Kanu’s father; a 90-years-old man?
“If police have anyone to arrest, it is Nnamdi Kanu that the police will arrest because he has been declared wanted and not the father.
“It is mere propaganda or blackmail to win the sympathy of the Igbos by the IPOB. Remember that IPOB has been proscribed by law and they remain proscribed.
“Any of their activities and gathering is illegal. If we get intelligence of their gathering which will disrupt the peace of the area, I don’t think that we should sit back and look at them disturbing the peace of the area,” Okon stated