The Imo State Government on Friday said it invited the military to “flush out” members of the Eastern Security Network an offshoot of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) in Orlu and Orsu.
State attorney-general and commissioner for justice Cyprian Akaolisa told journalists in Owerri that the ESN operatives were hoodlums and would be treated as murderers by the state government.
“The Imo State Government invited the military to flush out the hoodlums who call themselves ESN in Orlu,” he said.
Mr Akaolisa also said the state would try those arrested for murder.
According to him, the leader of IPOB Nnamdi Kanu was endangering the people of the state by the activities of ESN in Orlu.
Akaolisa alleged IPOB cashed in on the #EndSARS protest last year to amass rifles for their operation.
He commended the Federal Government for deploying troops in the area to secure the inhabitants.
The commissioner also accused a former governor of the state Senator Rochas Okorocha of playing politics with the crisis.
Akaolisa said the deployed troops would not leave the troubled areas until peace returns to Orlu and Orsu.
