Mob Lynch Man in Imo for Enforcing IPOB Sit-at-Home Order

Enraged youths have lynched a 34-year old, Obinwanne Iwu, in Imo, for coercing people to obey the sit-at-home order purportedly issued by Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).

Imo State Police Command spokesperson, CSP Micheal Abattam, in a statement yesterday, said the victim, who hailed from Ahiara in Ahiazu Mbaise Council Area of the state, allegedly arrived Ahiara Market with his gang on Monday morning and started attacking the traders and looting their goods.

According to the police, the victim was an alleged member of IPOB/ESN group, and one of the inmates that escaped from the Owerri Correctional Center during an attack on the facility early this year.

Abattam also disclosed that the state Commissioner of Police,  Rabiu Hussaini, has condemned the act and set up a team to commence an investigation into the incident.

The statement reads, “On 20/09/2021 about 0745hrs, while residents of Oru Ahiara in Ahiazu Mbaise LGA of Imo State, came out of their houses for their daily business. Shops were opened and people were going about their lawful businesses.

“One Obinwanne Iwu ‘m’ aged 34 years, a native Ahiara in Ahiazu Mbaise LGA of Imo State, an escapee of Imo Correctional Centre Owerri, and a member of the proscribed IPOB/ESN came to the market with members of his gang attacking, looting opened shops and forcing people to lock up their shops, and preventing them from their legitimate businesses.

“Shouting at the top of their voices, ‘Today is Monday and everybody must obey the sit at home order’. This did not go down well with the people who resisted it in its entirety.

“In the pandemonium that ensued, an angry mob in their numbers held the leader of the gang, one Obinwanne Iwu, tied his hands behind, while members of the gang fled the scene into hiding. In the process, he was mercilessly beaten to death, before a police patrol team arrived at the scene.

“Efforts made by the police patrol team to arrest the perpetrators proved abortive as they all fled the scene on sighting the patrol team.

“The Commissioner of Police, Imo State Command,  Rabiu Hussaini while condemning the barbaric act,  advised members of the public to always hand over suspects to the Police for proper investigation and prosecution. Instead of taking the laws into their hands.”