Secessionist group, the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has raised concerns about the militarization of the South-East region, alleging frequent military intimidation, harassment, and extortion.
The group said such atrocities occur at the “kill and bury” military checkpoint mounted at Ukwu Orji in the Mbaitolu Local Government Area along Owerri/Onitsha expressway in Imo State.
IPOB in a statement issued on Friday by its Media and Publicity Secretary, Emma Powerful, said that passengers have been subjected to all manner of humiliation, torture and forceful disappearances at military and police checkpoints in the South-East, particularly at the military checkpoint at Ukwu Orji area.
Powerful said, “The soldiers at this particular checkpoint deliberately keep all the vehicles that get to the checkpoint at 10pm to around 12am until each vehicle pays them N5,000 before they can be allowed to pass to continue on their journey.
“Sometimes, after unnecessary delays and extortions by the soldiers at this checkpoint, the passengers are attacked and kidnapped on the way.
“The soldiers and police officers at this checkpoint are informants to kidnappers. They use guns and uniforms issued by the Nigerian government to intimidate and force people to part with their money or be delayed till the next day or even be killed.
“Similar incidents happen in all the military and police checkpoints scattered all over the South-East region. The uncountable number of army and police checkpoints collect N5,000 or more from each vehicle in the South-East region and make persons and vehicular movements difficult and expensive.”
The IPOB spokesperson said the militarisation of the South-East is not only an intimidating and oppressive policy of the Nigerian government and security agencies, “but it is also a plan to occupy Biafra territory.”
He said, “The security agencies of Nigeria also contravene UN human rights commission rules regularly in carrying out their evil plans in Igboland.
“The Nigerian government’s economic strangulation policy against Ndigbo can be felt by all inhabitants of Igbo land. The excessive extortions at these military and police checkpoints make the cost of goods and transportation exorbitant compared to other regions of their country.
“Holding passengers at gunpoint from 10 pm to 12 am is against fundamental human rights. All of that done in order to extort huge amounts of cash from travelers before allowing them to cross the army or police checkpoint.
“This shows that the Nigerian military is part of the criminality going on in Imo State and the entire South-East.”
According to him, “IPOB in the past has raised alarms that the military and police checkpoints in the East are part of the insecurity of kidnapping and car snatching gangs’ activities”.
It said, “The presence of these soldiers and police officers at various checkpoints has not reduced insecurity. Instead, the Nigerian soldiers at the checkpoints are humiliating, intimidating, raping our ladies, extorting money, and passing information to kidnappers.
“They are working with the kidnappers who deliver shares of ransom collected from kidnapped victims to them.
“IPOB is calling on the Nigeria Defence Headquarters and the Chief of Army Staff to withdraw and dismantle the military checkpoints in the East, particularly the checkpoint at Ukwu Orji on Owerri/Onitsha expressway.
“The Nigerian soldiers deployed at that checkpoint are part of the insecurity in the South-East Region.
“The checkpoints are meant to protect innocent civilians while checkmating the activities of criminal elements terrorizing the communities.
“Instead of stopping the insecurity, these military men and women at these checkpoints are fueling insecurity, kidnapping, angering, and frustrating the civilians on the roadways.
“The military checkpoints are extortion toll booths and information gathering for the kidnappers.”