DSS
By Abdullahi Abubakar
The Federal High Court in Abuja yesterday heard that members of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and its armed wing – the Eastern Security Network (ESN) – were once caught eating human flesh.
An official of the Department of State Services (DSS) said the group’s activities led to the killing of over 170 security agents in the Southeast.
He said during one of DSS’ agents’ raids of ESN’s hideout, they met them engaging in cannibalism.
“We saw some ESN members, about seven, with human heads and some eating human flesh, which they said was for spiritual fortification,” the witness said.
The DSS official was led in evidence by prosecuting lawyer, Adegboyega Awomolo (SAN), in the terrorism trial of IPOB leader Mazi Nnamdi Kanu.
The witness also said the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) did not issue a license to Kanu to import the radio transmitter he allegedly smuggled into the country to operate Radio Biafra.
The fourth prosecution witness gave details of how the late former aide to ex-President Goodluck Jonathan, Ahmed Gulak, was killed on May 30, 2021, in Owerri, the Imo State capital.
The witness said an NBC engineer confirmed that the German-made transmitter could only be procured and installed with a licence, which he said was never issued.
“There was no application from the defendant. He brought in the transmitter illegally without approval,” the witness said, adding that IPOB members contributed money for the purchase.
The witness said an ESN member, whom he identified as Uzuoma Benjamin, aka Onye Army, admitted receiving directives from Kanu to kill security agents and ensure that a deceased member of the group, Ikonso, was buried with 2,000 human heads.
The witness also read where the said Onye Army claimed that he and other members of his group used the heads of 10 girls to prepare charms for their protection.
He said the investigation revealed that the invasion of Owerri prison by IPOB members was directed by Kanu in one of his broadcasts, asking his followers to attack and kill security operatives.
The DSS official said further investigation revealed that the defendant, in his broadcast, directed that Ikonso should be buried with 2,000 heads, but that only 30 were obtained.
He said that when the DSS requested to access Onye Army, the police claimed he had fled.
“We could not find Onye Army. The police said he had escaped from custody,” the witness said.
He said records on the number of security agents killed in the Southeast stand at between 170 and 200.
The witness said two DSS officials, including his driver, were among the victims, and that the killings cut across all security agencies.
On how the ESN members operate, the witness said they are combatants who carry arms and attack the homes of prominent individuals and traditional rulers in the region.
He said that because they lacked sufficient operational tools, they sometimes set up roadblocks to hijack vehicles for their operation.
The witness identified some public property which he said IPOB and ESN members attacked and destroyed in the Southeast, including police stations.
He said on May 30, 2021, there was a total breakdown of law and order, as a result of the stay-at-home order declared by the defendant, through one of his broadcasts.
The witness said later that day, one of his officers informed him that a prominent politician had been killed around Obiagwu.
He said the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) in the area told him that Gulak was in a hired cab when he was killed by IPOB members.
The witness said the driver told him they were heading for the airport from Owerri town, when they saw a checkpoint mounted by men of the Nigerian Air Force who were preventing people from accessing the airport, and decided to take another route where they ran into the IPOB checkpoint.
He added that the driver further said the IPOB members ordered the three of them in the car to disembark and demanded to know their tribes.
He said the driver told him he introduced himself as an Igbo person, and that Gulak also said he was an Igbo man.
But while the driver could speak Igbo when they were asked to speak, Gulak could not, following which they asked him to remove his cap and saw a Muslim prayer mark on his forehead.
The witness said the driver added that upon seeing the prayer mark, one of the IPOB members said: “He is one of them,” following which they shot and killed him.
The DSS official, who said he served in Imo State between 2019 and 2023, said the deceased’s corpse was evacuated in his (the witness’) car.
Under cross-examination by defence lawyer, Onyechi Ikpeazu (SAN), the witness said there was no record of the importation of the transmitter.
He said he could not say when the transmitter was brought into the country, but that he was among those who located where it was kept in Anambra State and brought it to the DSS headquarters in Abuja.
On how they were able to locate the transmitter, the witness said his team used some equipment to analyse a video (showing Kanu inspecting the transmitter) to ascertain the location of the transmitter in Anambra.
He said he did not come across the names Benka Clearing and Forwarding and Chief Isaac Maduka in the course of the investigation.
He also said he was not aware that Benka cleared the transmitter, as claimed by Ikpeazu.
Asked if he was aware that Radio Biafra was registered in London and broadcast from there, the witness said that when Kanu was arrested in Lagos in 2016, he was arrested with his broadcast equipment.
He said he was not present when the defendant was arrested in Lagos and that all he said about his arrest was what was relayed to him.
The witness said the two guns he said they found were not recovered in the container in which the transmitter was kept, but under the mattress of Benjamin Madubugu, who lived on the premises.
He added that Madubugu was later charged with unlawful possession of firearms.
The witness said the container was brought into the country by one Igwe Anyiba, who was later found to be living outside the country.
The witness said he was not aware that the Imo State Government stated that Gulak’s killing was political.
After the cross-examination, the witness was discharged, following which Justice James Omotosho adjourned till Thursday, when the fifth prosecution witness will testify.
