Nation
Arrested army deserter names sponsors of terrorism in Southeast
Lance Corporal Nwangwu Chiwendu, an army deserter who was recently arrested for his involvement in the activities of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) in the southeast, has named some of the sponsors of the acts of violence carried out by the group’s militant wing, Eastern Security Network (ESN).
Corporal Nwangwu named Emma Powerful, the Media and Publicity Secretary of IPOB, as one of the sponsors of terror attacks and criminalities in the zone.
Powerful was named alongside Chinasa Nworu by one of the alleged commanders of ESN.
Speaking with journalists in Owerri on Wednesday, Onyearmy, a deserter from the Nigerian Army who has allegedly trained over 1,000 militants, said that Powerful and Nworu are among the list of their sponsors.
The 34-year-old suspect who hails from Amaohuru Nguru in the Aboh Mbaise Local Government Area of Imo State was arrested on Friday in his hometown while attending his father’s burial.
“DOS (IPOB’s Directorate of State) which we know as Emma Powerful, Chinasa Nworu, and others.
“The first money one person used to register with us is N3.5 million. And he promised that he is going to give us N10 million every month.
“We were formerly assassins. Like when Ebube called us to go and kill one man, we killed him,” Politics Nigeria quoted Onyearmy as saying.
He said that when he was persuaded to join ESN, he was told that if his salary with the Nigerian Army is N200, 000, he will get double of that.
Meanwhile, this is the second time in one week that Chinasa Nworu has been named as a terror sponsor in the South East.
A suspected member of ESN, Okechukwu Ama-Nlemedim, popularly known as ‘Ejima’ last week named Nworu and other persons as their sponsors.
Ama-Nlemedim had said, “Getting to two years now. Him with Okey Foreign. It is only Chinasa Nworu and Okey Foreign that sponsor us from abroad. The other one is in the village here.
“The reason Chinasa gave us (to perpetrate terror) is that these Ebubeagu people, anywhere wey we see them, make we attack them.”