Tina Amanda
Some residents in Oyigbo local government area of Rivers State have decried weeks of Military brutality, intimidation in their search for the members of Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, in every community in Oyigbo.
They lamented that since the Army’s invasion in Oyigbo LGA, so many innocent lives have been lost from severe torture and indiscriminate shooting.
They claimed further that people’s properties have been destroyed by the Military whenever they raid a place in search of IPOB members.
One of the victims of Military brutality in Izuoma Community, who pleaded anonymity while narrating his ordeal to our correspondent, said that troops in about four (4) Hilux vehicles raided their area on Friday, 30th October 2020, going house to house in search of IPOB members.
“At about twelve (12) noon 30th October, I and my wife were at home when the Military Officers raided our area, they got to my residence and ordered we open the door or they will break in forcefully.
“I obeyed and opened the door, they asked if I am an IPOB member, I told them no that I don’t belong to the group, they asked my wife and me to lie down on the floor and they flogged us mercilessly with reasons that I am lying to them that I am not an IPOB member.
“After several lashes on my wife and I, their Commander ordered two officers to take me inside and search thoroughly for any evidence that indicates I belong to IPOB, in the end, they did not see anything, they left, leaving us in so much pain with bruises all over my body.
“This is the kind of humiliation and torture we the residents of Oyigbo have been facing silently in the hands of soldiers. Some houses they raid were the occupants were afraid to open their doors were either destroyed or burnt down.
“Residents of Oyigbo no longer have peaceful sleep or rest in their communities for fear of Army raid, we cannot run away from our homes because we do not have anywhere else to go. So many people have died as a result of bullet wounds or severe torture from the military.
Another victim also claimed that the Military invaded his house with information that he is an IPOB member.
According to him, the Army Officers who came to his house tortured him without a proper clarification or investigation and later discovered he was not a member of IPOB, after inflicting him with so much injury on his back.
One of the residents of Oyigbo who also experienced military humiliation and torture said Army Officers should stop intimidating innocent people of Oyigbo, as the main IPOB members have already fled the town.
