A human rights body, Amnesty International Nigeria, has said it uncovered a particular group of gunmen terrorising residents of Nigeria’s South-east.
The human rights body said in a statement posted on its X handle on Sunday that the group, otherwise known as “unknown gunmen”, often refer to themselves as “Umu Oma.”
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“Umu Oma” is an Igbo expression which simply means the “good ones.”
Amnesty explained that its research showed the armed group was involved in various terror attacks across the South-east region.
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“Amnesty International’s research shows that the ‘Umu Oma’ gunmen usually invade communities – moving from house to house – in search of weapons. They attack vigilante offices and take away arms,” it said.
“In each home they broke into, they tied up every adult male, assaulted them with machetes and took their phones, cash and other valuables.”
The human rights body regretted that despite the atrocities often committed by the armed group against South-east residents, “justice and adequate reparations have eluded victims of the violence.”
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Meanwhile, PREMIUM TIMES reports that “Umu Oma” is a name often ascribed to gunmen who claim to be agitating for secession of the South-east and some parts of the South-south from Nigeria.
The group, believed to be camping in communities in Okigwe Local Government Area of Imo State, has carried several terror attacks, including killing of residents and razing of houses.
The group is said to be part Autopilot IPOB, a faction of the outlawed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).
The Autopilot IPOB was founded by the now jailed Simon Ekpa, a controversial Biafra agitator.
Mr Ekpa also floated the Biafra Liberation Army, the armed militant wing of the terror group.
Nnamdi Kanu, who is facing terrorism trial at the Federal High Court in Abuja, is the leader of IPOB, which is seeking the establishment of an independent state of Biafra which it wants carved out from the South-east and some parts of the South-south Nigeria.
Mr Kanu-led IPOB faction has repeatedly disowned the activities of Autopilot IPOB and those of other pro-Biafra groups in the South-east.
Kanu’s brother, others tackle Amnesty
In his reaction, Kanunta Kanu, a young brother to the IPOB leader, criticised the Amnesty International for linking “Umu Oma” to terror attacks in the South-east.
Kanunta, in an X post, argued that Nigerian Army personnel were rather the real Umu Oma carrying out the terror attacks in the region.
He uploaded a video clip on the microblogging platform which showed some uniformed and armed military officers burning houses and shooting indiscriminately while urging one another to “clear” the whole community.
“These are the Umu Omas in this video. The same group wants American forces to enter the country and decimate the terrorists and the whole northern elder and politicians are protesting against that move,” he wrote, referring to the Army personnel in the clip.
“Who are the sympathisers and the sponsors of terrorism in Nigerian then if not these men?”
Like Kanunta, other pro-Biafra groups also uploaded video clips showing burnt houses and destroyed properties which they claimed were carried out the Nigerian security operatives.
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Some voices of distressed residents heard in the background of the clips claimed Nigerian security forces often razed houses and kill innocent people whenever they raid communities in search of members of the terror groups.
An X user (@AkukariaSA) insisted that Nigerian Army personnel were responsible for the killings in the South-east, referencing a PREMIUM TIMES report which showed how Nigerian troops kill unarmed residents and tag them IPOB members.
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