SSS arrests suspected IPOB/ESN commander in Enugu

Operatives of the State Security Service (SSS) have arrested a suspected commander of the Eastern Security Network (ESN), the armed wing of an outlawed separatist group, the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).

The suspected ESN commander, Sabastine Odam, was arrested alongside a suspected member of IPOB, Ejike Daniel, during an operation in Enugu State, Nigeria’s South-east.

In a statement shared with PREMIUM TIMES, the SSS said the suspects were arrested on Friday at Eha-Amufu and Umuhu Communities in Isi-Uzo Local Government Area of the state.

The secret police said the suspects were arrested after months of intelligence gathering on their activities.

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According to the statement, the arrests followed a series of violent attacks in the area between 2024 and 2026.

The suspects, the SSS said, have confessed to having masterminded attacks on police stations and the killing of several persons, including 11 labourers in February and two police officers in January.

The statement added that the suspects were also responsible for the killing of two police officers in December 2025 and another police operative in 2024.

Weapons were reportedly carted away during the attacks.

The SSS described the operation as a major breakthrough in ongoing efforts to tackle insecurity in the South-east.

The secret police said residents of Isi-Uzo Local Government Area of the state expressed relief following the arrest of the suspects, stressing that the development could help restore peace in communities that have experienced repeated attacks.

According to the statement, suspects are currently in SSS custody and are expected to be arraigned in court upon conclusion of investigations.

Violence in the South-east

Violence and some deadly attacks in the South-east have been linked to IPOB and its armed militant wing, ESN.

But the separatist group has repeatedly denied any involvement in the attacks in the region.

The group has been leading the agitation for an independent country of Biafra, which it wants carved out from the south-east and some parts of the south-south of Nigeria.

PREMIUM TIMES reports that attacks in the South-east have waned significantly in recent times.

When the attacks were still frequent, security personnel, government officials and facilities were often targeted.

A report by Amnesty International said at least 1,844 people were killed and hundreds forcibly disappeared in the South-east between January 2021 and June 2023, amid clashes involving armed groups and security forces.

The report also documented repeated attacks on police stations, communities and vigilante posts during the period.

The violence was usually high during a sit-at-home directive often enforced by an IPOB faction loyal to a controversial Biafra agitator, Simon Ekpa.

The Monday sit-at-home order was first declared in August 2021 by IPOB to pressure the Nigerian government to release its leader, Nnamdi Kanu, who was facing terrorism charges at the time.

The directive forced businesses, schools and government offices to shut down every Monday in many South-eastern states.

Some pro-Biafra gunmen who enforced the order often killed those who violated the illegal directive.

The hoodlums also set houses ablaze and destroyed properties of residents perceived to be flouting the illegal sit-at-home directive in several communities in the region.

IPOB, at several times, cancelled the illegal directive, maintaining that criminals enforcing the illegal directive were blackmailing the separatist group.

But the Mr Ekpa-led group insisted on enforcing the order.

Even when Mr Kanu’s then special counsel, Aloy Ejimakor, announced that the IPOB leader had directed that the sit-at-home be stopped in the South-east, Mr Ekpa-led group rejected the directive.

It stressed that it would only stop the sit-at-home if Mr Kanu spoke directly.

However, in February, IPOB announced the “total cancellation” of the Monday sit-at-home across the South-east, saying the directive came from Mr Kanu and warning that anyone attempting to enforce it would be acting against his instructions.

Apart from IPOB, Mr Ekpa’s group also cancelled the illegal directive and corroborated IPOB’s position that Mr Kanu gave the directive.

Meanwhile, Mr Kanu was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment for terrorism in November, while Mr Ekpa received a six-year prison sentence in Finland for similar offences which he committed in south-east Nigeria.