- The chief of army staff Lt Gen Tukur Buratai says soldiers had no contact with secessionist leader, Nnamdi Kanu during military operations in the southeast
- He says Kanu is not in military custody
- The army chief denies allegations that scores of people were killed during the military operation in the southeast
The chief of army staff Lt Gen Tukur Buratai has said soldiers chased a truck laden with weapons into a house said to belong to the father of Nnamdi Kanu in Afara-Ukwu Ibeku, Umuahia, Abia state, on September 14.
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The army chief stated that the owners of the truck detonated the explosives to frustrate the move by the army to arrest them.
Buratai who made the statement in a counter-affidavit he filed in reaction to a suit before the Federal High Court in Abuja in Kanu’s name by his lawyer Ifeanyi Ejiofor, The Nation reports.
He said the truck was detonated on the day Kanu was last seen in public.
Reacting to the suit which was seeking among others to compel the army to produce Nnamdi Kanu, Buratai maintained that the soldiers had no contact with the secessionist leader
He said: during a peaceful movement which was part of the Operation Python Dance II on September 14, some soldiers saw a truck and flagged it down, but the truck and its occupants ran over Army’s barricade and defied soldiers’ order stopping them to be searched.
“It was the legitimate attempt by the officers and men of the Nigerian Army to arrest the fleeing occupants of the truck and impound the truck that precipitated the deliberate igniting of the ammunition in the truck by persons now believed to be IPOB members.
“The act of the IPOB members resulted in sporadic explosions within the said applicant’s compound.
“The applicant (Kanu) is not and has neither being in our custody nor in the custody of any person, officer or institution receiving instruction directly or indirectly from him.
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“The applicant was not at any time whatsoever arrested, taken into custody or detained by the Officers and men of the Nigerian Army.
“The officers and men of the Nigerian Army did not have any contact whatsoever or confrontation or any operational engagement with the applicant on September 12 or 14, 20l7 or any other date thereafter, contrary to the allegations in the affidavit in support of the application.
“The allegation of invasion of the South-Eastern part of Nigeria by officers and men of the Nigerian Army, especially the applicant’s home and or residence is totally false,” the COAS said.
He denied allegations that scores of people were killed during the military operation in the southeast, insisting that his men acting in compliance with approved rules of engagement and code of conduct which prohibit any form of human right abuses.
“The allegations of firing of live bullets on the applicant’s relatives, killing of scores of persons, wounding and arrest of many, attack and invasion of applicant’s home, barricade at Isialangwa, arrest and torture of civilians by officers and me of the Nigerian Army, as stated by the deponent, are a figment of his imagination as same are not true,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Institute for Economics & Peace has released the 2017 Global Terrorism Index, GTI.
The GTI monitored and measured impacts of terrorism in 163 countries, which covers 99.7 per cent of the world’s population.
The Institute for Economics & Peace has released the 2017 Global Terrorism Index, GTI. The GTI monitored and measured impacts of terrorism in 163 countries, which covers 99.7 per cent of the world’s population.
Biafra Security Service (BSS) inaugurated by IPOB leader, Nnamdi Kanu on NAIJ.com TV
Source: Naija.ng