Three soldiers dismissed from the Nigerian Army for various offences –Linus Owalo, Godswill Steven, and Chinasa Orji – have said they trained over 4,000 Eastern Security Network members after the Indigenous People of Biafra made them mouth-watering, including overseas training.
The suspects also claimed that IPOB leader, Nnamdi Kanu, promised them that “when” the State of Biafra was achieved, they would become military generals in the new country.
However, the suspects said they discovered that all the promises IPOB made to them were lies, adding that since helping the proscribed secessionist group to train ESN members, none of the promises had materialised.
Saturday PUNCH learnt that Owalo, Steven, and Orji spoke after their arrest by operatives of the Intelligence Response Team of the Nigeria Police Force.
ESN, regarded as IPOB’s armed wing, has been accused of violence in the South-East, including attacks on government facilities and killing of security agents.
Saturday PUNCH gathered that the trio were rounded up after the IRT, acting on intelligence, raided ESN’s hideouts in Imo, Anambra, and Delta states, as well as Abuja.
It was learnt that Owalo, a 32-year-old father of two, was enlisted into the Nigerian Army in 2013 and attached to 102 Guard Brigade Battalion, but was dismissed in 2019 from the army for deserting.
