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Military In Enugu State Warns It Will ‘Suppress Any Insurrection’ In South-East And South-South

November 16, 2015

Speaking to members of the press the Deputy Director of Public Relations for the 82nd Division the Nigerian Army, Colonel Hamza Gambo, pledged that the division was ready to suppress any insurrection in the South-East and South-South regions.

Speaking to members of the press the Deputy Director of Public Relations for the 82nd Division the Nigerian Army, Colonel Hamza Gambo, pledged that the division was ready to suppress any insurrection in the South-East and South-South regions.  

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Colonel Gambo cited the “marked increase in the activities of pro-Biafran groups” as the reason behind the division’s warning.  He explicitly blamed the activities of the Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) and the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB) for the rise in security tensions within the region.

While acceding to the rights of every citizen to freely assemble, the army officer noted that these privileges end “where the freedoms of others begin.” Colonel Gambo stressed that the army would only act within its rules of engagement and that law abiding citizens had nothing to fear.

Colonel Gambo’s statement comes after weeks of intense pro-Biafra protests in southern States, and countries around the world, stemming mainly from the arrest of the leader of IPOB Nnamdi Kanu. Mr. Kanu has been held without adequate medical or legal attention by the Department of State Security since early October, according to his lawyer Egechukwu Obetta.