IPOB’s Lawyer Alleges Army, Police Siege On Residence

Barr Ifeanyi Ejiofor, lawyer to the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, Nnamdi Kanu, on Sunday alerted the public to an alleged siege on his house by Nigerian security operatives.

The lawyer, in a message sent to THE WHISTLER on Sunday morning wrote, “Joint team of the police and army are presently in my house shooting sporadically on sight, to arrest me.

“As a lawyer I have committed no offence known to law. My life is under serious threat. People are being killed and I don’t know what will happen to me next.”

In a reaction, the International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law’s Family House, in a statement entitled ‘Nigerian Government Must Stop This Madness’, condemned the alleged siege.

The statement signed by the group’s board chairman, Emeka Umeagbalasi, read, “The International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law has received distress calls from lawyers working in the law firm of Barr Ifeanyi Ejiofor (I.C. Ejiofor and Co), Abuja, informing us that the combined team of armed soldiers, SSS and police have surrounded the Oraifite nuclear and extended family houses of Barr ‘Onowu’ Ifeanyi Ejiofor and his siblings; and condoned off the entire exits and entries and placed the whole area under siege.

“The latest armed violence from the government of Nigeria started some minutes before 3am early morning of today being Sunday, 6th June 2021.

“We also managed to reach Barr Ifeanyi Ejiofor on phone and he confirmed the attack. The activist lawyer also suspected that some members of his family, including security and domestic aides, might have been abducted and that he had returned home for weekend [and] informed the Oraifite Area Commander (ACP Afolabi) and few others that he was around.

“It must be recalled that Barr Ifeanyi Ejiofor, his siblings and their family houses in Oraifite, Ekwusigo, Anambra State were ferociously attacked on 2nd Dec 2019. His heavily pregnant wife narrowly escaped having miscarriage and later delivered miraculously.

“The attacks had taken place on the said 2nd Dec 2019 immediately after the family’s outing church service held for his late brother, a priest of the Anglican Church. Barr Ejiofor also narrowly escaped being killed by soldiers and police.

“In the end, five persons including his domestic aides were shot and killed and scores of others injured. The irate youths of the community protested angrily near the community’s market square, leading to loss of two principal police officers.

“The Nigerian government swiftly deployed troops and burnt down 22 property including a dozen family houses and ten sales stores. Following the ferocious attacks, Barr Ifeanyi Ejiofor went underground for months and shut down his law offices in Abuja, Nnewi, etc.”

The group warned that the Nigerian government ‘is setting the country on fire the more’, adding that, “The crude method by government of Nigeria, including invasion of citizens’ homes at ungodly hours especially the dwelling homes of respected and legally recognizable persons and brazen violation of their rights to privacy and family, is despicable and condemnable.”

It advised the government to follow due process in interrogation the lawyer, warning that, “If anything untoward happened to the lawyer and his family or property, the world is being put on notice to hold the Nigerian government responsible.”