| Eastern Security Network | |
|---|---|
 Flag | |
| Leaders | Nnamdi Kanu "Commander Ikonso" † [1] |
| Allegiance |  Biafra (IPOB) |
| Ideology | Biafran separatism Anti-Fulani sentiment |
| Size | More than 50,000 soldiers (Nigerian Army sources) [2] |
| Allies |  AGovC (ADF) |
| Opponents |  Nigeria |
| Battles and wars | Insurgency in Southeastern Nigeria |
The Eastern Security Network (ESN) is the paramilitary organization of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), a pro-Biafra separatist movement. [3] [4] [5] [6] [7]
The Biafran people lost the 1967-1970 Nigerian Civil War, during which they attempted to secede (to withdraw) from Nigeria and establish an independent government in Biafra. There remains residual support for the independence of Biafra among the Igbos. Many Igbos, who are mostly Christian, consider that they are disadvantaged under the current, Muslim-dominated Nigerian government. [8] Biafra secessionism is also attributable to the Nigerian police abuses and arbitrary arrests in the southeastern states. [3] [7]
The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), founded by Nnamdi Kanu, is a currently active separatist movement. According to the Council on Foreign Relations , "[t]he federal government, recalling the civil war, is bitterly opposed to Igbo separatism, as is most of the Igbo establishment. The government has long sought to defang the IPOB and silence Kanu, sometimes through illegal or quasi-legal methods." [8] Since 2017, the IPOB is designated by the Nigerian government as a terrorist organization. [3] [7]
Since August 2020, violence has been escalating between the IPOB and the Nigerian government. In August 2020, Nigerian police forces executed 21 IPOB members at a meeting, with two police officers dead and both siding accused each other of firing the first shot. [8] [9] Violence escalated during the following months, leading to a region-wide insurgency. [8]
IPOB launched the 'Eastern Security Network' in December early 2020, as a reaction to the Igbo's perception that they are targeted by Muslim Fulani herders, whom they accuse of grazing on farmlands and committing crimes like raping and killings against local residents. [5] [8] The movement then morphed into a paramilitary unit with broader functions because the paramilitary forces was incapacitated. [8]
The Nigerian government saw the ESN as a threat to its authority and deployed the army to locate and destroy ESN bases. [8] [10] In January 2021, intense fighting broke out in the town of Orlu, in Imo State. [8] [11] The military confrontation lasted for seven days, until ESN declared a unilateral ceasefire and both sides withdrew from the city. [8] [12]
Shortly after the Orlu Crisis, IPOB gave all the governors of southeast Nigeria 14 days to ban open grazing, threatening to deploy the ESN to enforce a ban if the authorities did not do so. [13] However, the ESN did not wait 14 days; a few days later, ESN operatives attacked a Fulani camp in Isuikwuato, Abia State, killing their livestock and burning down their houses. [14] Following the raid, some governors responded by heeding the ESN's call and banning open grazing. [15]
IPOB accused the Nigerian Army of working in collaboration with the governor of Imo state to continue the harassment and intimidation of civilians in Orlu and environs, especially the arrest of a Rabbi and his family members, whom it was reported were being tortured. Beginning from 15 February, there were reports of the Nigerian army sending reinforcements to Orlu. On the 18th of February 2021, Nigeria Military launched an airstrike in Orlu, Imo state. IPOB issued a swift statement through its State Directorate asserting that "they have finally brought the war upon the Biafran people." [16]
In response to the deaths of at least 20 security personnel in the region in early 2021 due to attacks by unknown gunmen, including the destruction of 3 police stations, Nigerian forces raided an ESN camp in Aba, Abia, on the night of March 23, 2021. The Nigerian force, numbering in the hundreds, captured the camp and claimed to have killed 16 ESN fighters. [17] On 29 March, the Nigerian police reported arresting 16 ESN members suspected of attacking security personnel. [18]
On April 5, 2021, at around 2 AM, a prison in Owerri, Imo State, was attacked by gunmen alleged to be ESN operatives using explosives to open the administrative buildings, setting 1844 prisoners free while prison officials fled. The Nigerian police blamed the attack on the Eastern Security Network while on the hand, IPOB denied any involvement. [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] An attempt to enter the armoury at the nearby police headquarters was deterred. [19] The following day, six of the escaped prisoners voluntarily returned to the prison. [20]
Biafra, officially the Republic of Biafra, was a partially recognised country in West Africa that declared independence from Nigeria and existed from 1967 until 1970. Its territory consisted of the former Eastern Region of Nigeria, predominantly inhabited by the Igbo ethnic group. Biafra was established on 30 May 1967 by Igbo military officer and Eastern Region governor Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu under his presidency, following a series of ethnic tensions and military coups after Nigerian independence in 1960 that culminated in the 1966 anti-Igbo pogrom. The Nigerian military proceeded in an attempt to reclaim the territory of Biafra, resulting in the start of the Nigerian Civil War. Biafra was officially recognised by Gabon, Haiti, Ivory Coast, Tanzania, and Zambia while receiving de facto recognition and covert military support from France, Portugal, Israel, South Africa and Rhodesia. After nearly three years of war, during which around two million Biafran civilians died, president Ojukwu fled into exile in Ivory Coast as the Nigerian military approached the capital of Biafra. Philip Effiong became the second president of Biafra, and he oversaw the surrender of Biafran forces to Nigeria.
The Nigerian Civil War, also known as the Biafran War, was a civil war fought between Nigeria and the Republic of Biafra, a secessionist state which had declared its independence from Nigeria in 1967. Nigeria was led by General Yakubu Gowon, and Biafra by Lieutenant Colonel Chukwuemeka "Emeka" Odumegwu Ojukwu. The conflict resulted from political, ethnic, cultural and religious tensions which preceded the United Kingdom's formal decolonisation of Nigeria from 1960 to 1963. Immediate causes of the war in 1966 included a military coup, a counter-coup, and anti-Igbo pogroms in the Northern Region. The pogroms and the exodus of surviving Igbos from the Northern Region to the Igbo homelands in the Eastern Region led the leadership of the Eastern Region to conclude that the Nigerian federal government would not protect them and that they must protect themselves in an independent Biafra.
Owerri is the capital city of Imo State in Nigeria, set in the heart of Igboland. It is also the state's largest city, followed by Orlu, Okigwe and Ohaji/Egbema. Owerri consists of three Local Government Areas including Owerri Municipal, Owerri North and Owerri West, it has an estimated population of 1,401,873 as of 2016 and is approximately 100 square kilometres (40 sq mi) in area. Owerri is bordered by the Otamiri River to the east and the Nworie River to the south. The Owerri Slogan is Heartland. It is also called the Las Vegas of Africa, due to the night life of the city and the numerous hotels, casino and leisure parks all over the city.
The Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) is a secessionist movement in Nigeria, associated with Igbo nationalism, which supports the recreation of an independent state of Biafra. It was founded in 1999 and is led by an Indian-trained lawyer Ralph Uwazuruike, with headquarters in Okwe, in the Okigwe district of Imo State.
The flag of Biafra, used by the Republic of Biafra during the Nigerian Civil War (1967–1970), consists of a horizontal tricolour of red, black, and green, charged with a golden rising sun over a golden bar. The eleven rays of the sun represent the eleven former provinces of Biafra. The rays are typically long and slender with the lowest rays being nearly horizontal and the remaining rays spread evenly between.
Imo State is a state in the South-East geopolitical zone of Nigeria, bordered to the north by Anambra State, Rivers State to the west and south, and Abia State to the east. It takes its name from the Imo River which flows along the state's eastern border. The state capital is Owerri and the State's slogan is the "Eastern Heartland."
Anti-Igbo sentiment encompasses a range of negative attitudes and feelings towards the Igbo people. The Igbo people make up a majority of the population in South East, Nigeria and part of the populations of the South South and the Middle Belt zones. Igbophobia can be observed in critical and hostile behaviour such as political and religious discrimination as well as violence towards Igbo people.
Amaifeke is an urban town in Orlu Local Government Area LGA of Imo State in the Niger Delta region of South Eastern Nigeria. The town shares the Orlu Urban metropolis area with Umuna and part of Orlu village. The indigenous population of Amaifeke belong to the Igbo ethnic group and the town is situated within the Igbo cultural area. Amaifeke shares boundaries with the following towns; Ihioma, Okporo, Okwuabala, Umuna, Orlu and Owere Ebeiri. The main language spoken in Amaifeke is the Orsu variant of the Igbo language.
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