Two Days after unknown gunmen blew up Umuguma Police station in Owerri West Local Government Area of Imo state with dynamite and other explosives, some families have said that they can’t find their sons that were been detained in the station.
JOURNALIST101 had reported how unknown gunmen in the early hours of Friday, March 18th, 2022 set the station ablaze.
According to an eyewitness, the attackers came in three vehicles and 2 motorcycles.
He said more than 5 vehicles were destroyed by the explosives and the building was set ablaze by the unknown gunmen.
“These hoodlums drove in their convoy of three vehicles, two motorcycles after they had a gun battle with the officers and at the same time threw explosives to the building.
“The whole of the building was in inflame because of the explosive and the officers who were on duty got injured while trying to take cover from the unexpected attack.”
Confirming the development, the Police Public Relations Officer, PPRO, Michael Abattam, said “The unknown gunmen used dynamite and they threw it on the building and it exploded”.
A police source who doesn’t want to be mentioned, said the attackers are members of the outlawed Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB and the incident was aimed at releasing their Chief Security Officers and others that were arrested during their meeting in December, 2022.
“This isn’t any unknown gunmen attack, these are members of IPOB, the officer said.
“They came to release their CSOs and commanders that were arrested at Egbu road. They were shouting IPOB one family! as they blew up the station and released 14 of them,” he said.
However, as manhunt for those released after the attack continues, some families said they’ve not seen nor made contact with their relatives.
One Ikechukwu Anosike who spoke to our correspondent said they’re devastated and don’t know if their brother is still alive, stressing that if the DPO had allowed them to take them on bail, they won’t still be in detention.
“We don’t know if Onyedika is still live. He was arrested alongside other members of IPOB and was brought to this station. Our entire family is devastated and we haven’t heard from him and don’t know if he’s still alive.
Another family, said their brother Kenneth Uche hasn’t been seen too. His junior brother who spoke to our correspondent said their family is almost giving up because this isn’t the first time their brother has gone missing on the issue of IPOB.
“The entire family is tired of Kenneth and his association with IPOB. Today, we don’t know if he’s alive or not. After Arochukwu incident, he went missing when army people continued looking for him. He contacted us after more than 2 months that he’s in Owerri with one of our relatives.
“We’re back to the same situation after this prison break because he was brought here after he was arrested on December 20th, 2021. We reached out to other members of IPOB we know and they said police refused to grant them bail.”
Efforts to reach the police spokesman for further comments on the claims proved abortive.
