…says soldiers tracked truck load of arms, ammunitions to IPOB leader’s
house By Ikechukwu Nnochiri ABUJA – The Chief of Army Staff, Lt.-Gen.
Tukur Buratai, on Thursday, prayed the Federal High Court in Abuja to
dismiss a suit seeking to compel him to produce the ‘missing’ leader of
the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, Mr. Nnamdi Kanu.
Why I cannot produce Kanu for trial, Buratai tells court
says soldiers tracked truck load of arms, ammunitions to IPOB leader’s house By Ikechukwu Nnochiri ABUJA – The Chief of Army Staff, Lt.-Gen. Tukur Buratai, on Thursday, prayed the Federal High Court in Abuja to dismiss a suit seeking to compel him to produce the ‘missing’ leader of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, Mr. Nnamdi Kanu.
A team of lawyers representing the embattled IPOB leader had in the suit, prayed the court to order Buratai to produce their client either dead or alive.
Why I cannot produce Kanu for trial, Buratai tells court
says soldiers tracked truck load of arms, ammunitions to IPOB leader’s house By Ikechukwu Nnochiri ABUJA – The Chief of Army Staff, Lt.-Gen. Tukur Buratai, on Thursday, prayed the Federal High Court in Abuja to dismiss a suit seeking to compel him to produce the ‘missing’ leader of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, Mr. Nnamdi Kanu.
A team of lawyers representing the embattled IPOB leader had in the suit, prayed the court to order Buratai to produce their client either dead or alive.
The lawyers who were led by Mr Ifeanyi Ejiofor, told the court that they
have not seen or heard from their client since September 14 when the
Nigerian Army invaded his house “on a murderous raid, where life and
mortar bullets were fired on unarmed and defenceless populace, leaving
28 persons dead and abducting many”. Pursuant to section 40 of the
Federal High Court Act, F12, LFN 2005 and section 6(6) (1) (4) of the
1999 constitution, as amended, Kanu’s lawyers applied for “an order of
Habeas Corpus ad subjiciendum, commanding the Respondent (Buratai), to
produce the Applicant in Court”.
However, in a counter-affidavit he filed in opposition to the suit,
Buratai told the court that Kanu was never in custody of the Nigeria
Army. He maintained that contrary to claims in the suit, soldiers who
were deployed to the South-East for ‘Operation Python Dance II, did not
have any contact whatsoever with Kanu on September 12 or 14, or anytime
thereafter as alleged. The Chief of Army Staff told the court that the
Nigerian Army did not at any time arrest or take Kanu into custody
within the period the military operation lasted, even as he denied
allegation that soldiers invaded the IPOB leader’s house in Afara-Ukwu
Ibeku, Umuahia, Abia State.
A colonel attached to the Chief of Army’s office in the Army
Headquarters, Abuja, Col. A.A Yusuf, who deposed to the
counter-affidavit on behalf of Buratai, said the alleged invasion of
Kanu’s house was totally false. However, the Army boss told the court
that his men only chased a truck he said was laden with arms and
explosives of different kinds, into a compound he said was later
discovered to belong to Kanu and his father. The counter-affidavit read
in part, “That the applicant (Kanu) is not and has never been in his
custody or in the custody of any person, officer or institution
receiving instruction directly or indirectly from him. “That the
applicant was not at any time whatsoever arrested, taken into custody or
detained by the Officers and men of the Nigerian Army.
“That the officers and men of the Nigerian Army did not have any
contact whatsoever or confrontation or any operational engagement with
the applicant on September 12 or 14, 20l7 or any other date thereafter,
contrary to the allegations in the affidavit in support of the
application. “That the allegation of invasion of the South-Eastern part
of Nigeria by officers and men of the Nigerian Army, especially the
applicant’s home and or residence is totally false.” He told the court
that during “a peaceful movement” that formed part of Operation Python
Dance II, soldiers, on September 14, pursued a truck loaded with arms
and ammunition into a compound which was identified in the suit as
jointly owned by Kanu and his father. He alleged that the fleeing truck
and its occupants ran over Army barricade and defied soldiers’ order
stopping them to be searched. Buratai insisted that soldiers that chased
the truck into Kanu’s house did not fire any shot, saying it was the
occupants of the fleeing truck that deliberately ignited the ammunition
they were carrying. “That while on a peaceful movement on the said
September 14, 2017, the soldiers randomly conducted stop-and-search
operations as are necessary and it was during one of such exercises in
Umuahia, Abia State, that it flagged down a truck, which as it turned
out later, was loaded with arms and ammunitions of varying degrees and
descriptions. “Rather than comply with the stop order, the driver and
other occupants of the truck recklessly ran over the barricade mounted
on the road by the soldiers and sped off, whereupon the soldiers at the
point gave a hot chase and called for reinforcement to enable them
pursue and arrest the fleeing vehicle. The soldiers did not fire any
shot at the fleeing truck in order to prevent the loss of lives. “That
the truck loaded with the arms and ammunition was pursued into a
compound which has now been described in this application as belonging
to and under the control of the applicant (Kanu) and his father. “That
it was the legitimate attempt by the officers and men of the Nigerian
Army to arrest the fleeing occupants of the truck and impound the truck
that precipitated the deliberate igniting of the ammunition in the truck
by persons now believed to be IPOB members. “That the act of the IPOB
members resulted in sporadic explosions within the said applicant’s
compound”, the affidavit further stated.
Buratai said his men that participated in the operation, complied with
Rules of Engagement and Code of Conduct that prohibit any form of human
right abuses, denying that they killed scores of IPOB members during the
military exercise in the South East. He said: “Throughout the duration
of the Operation Python Dance II, officers and men of the Nigerian Army
obeyed the Rules of Engagement and Code of Conduct to the letter as
there was no reported case of indiscriminate shooting, unlawful arrest,
detention or torture, contrary to the wild, bland, untrue, incorrect,
bogus and insipid allegations contained in or oozed out in the affidavit
of Prince Mandela Umegborogu Esq. “The allegations of firing of live
bullets on the applicant’s relatives, killing of scores of persons,
wounding and arrest of many, attack and invasion of applicant’s home,
barricade at Isialangwa, arrest and torture of civilians by officers and
me of the Nigerian Army, as stated by the deponent, are a figment of
his imagination as same are not true.” Meanwhile, Justice Binta Nyako
will commence hearing on the suit on Friday. The lawyers had in the suit
they filed Kanu’s name, told the court that, “On the 12th September,
2017, the Nigeria Military Soldiers acting under express command handed
down by the Respondent, violently invaded the Applicant’s home in
Afara-ukwu Ibeku, Umuahia Abia State, wherein scores of his relative
were brutally wounded and many killed. “On 14th day of September, 2017,
the Nigerian Military led by Soldiers of the Nigerian Army invaded the
Applicant’s house on a murderous raid, where life and mortar bullets
were fired on unarmed and defenseless populace, leaving 28 persons dead
and abducting many. “The Applicant, who was in the house during this
bloody onslaught by the Soldiers, has not been heard from or seen after
this bloody attack in his home by the Agents of the Respondent since the
14th day of September 2017. “That the invading Soldiers in their
desperate bid to ensure that the Applicant is caught in the attack
climbed stairs to his bedroom upstairs to shot him; walls of his bedroom
were riddled with bullets. “The invading Soldiers who had direct
contact with the Applicant on this fateful day (14th day of September
2017) should be in a position to produce the Applicant before the court.
It is either the Respondent’s rampaging Soldiers abducted the Applicant
during this raid or must have killed him in the process”.
Besides, in a supporting affidavit that was deposed by one Prince
Mandela Umegborogu, he said that he was told by Kanu’s younger brother,
Emmanuel, that on September 12, “Soldiers of Nigerian Army, numbering
about 200 ( two hundred) fully armed to the teeth invaded the
residential home of the Applicant in Afarauwku- Ibeku, Umuahia, in Abia
State”. “That the invading Soldiers were deployed to the South-Eastern
part of the Country by the Respondent in a covert operation tagged
Operation Python dance II (Egwu eke II), an exercise exclusively under
the Respondent’s command and control. “That the Soldiers who also drove
in a purpose-built sophisticated armoured personnel carrier, fired live
bullets on the relatives of the Applicant, leaving scores brutally
wounded, and arrested many.
“That the said Military deployment to the South-East was approved,
without any history of arms resistance by the Applicant’s members or
combatant attacks on Military personnel and installation from the
civilian populace. “That during the bloody attack/invasion of the
Applicant’s home, scores were killed and others forced to abandon their
sleep and run for cover in nearby bushes, which include nursing mothers,
pregnant women, children and the aged. “That on that same day,
September 12, dozens of supporters of the Applicant who were on a
courtesy visit to him, were also barricaded at Isialangwa and tortured
on the same day. “That the Applicant was emotionally traumatized and
visibly tortured on account of heavy causalities recorded in this
unprovoked attack from the invading Soldiers. “That on September 14, the
Nigerian Soldiers invaded the Applicant’s home for the second time,
unfortunately on a brutal but murderous raid that left 28 (twenty eight)
persons dead, and over 48 (forty eight) arrested and taken away to an
unknown destination. “That the Applicant was sitting right inside his
bedroom when the Soldiers invaded his home. “That the Soldiers in their
desperate efforts to ensure that the Applicant who is their main target
is gunned down, climbed the stairs to his bedroom upstairs to shot him.
“That the wall of the Applicant’s bedroom is riddled with bullets holes
till date. Attached and marked as Exhibits EK1, EK2, EK3, EK4, EK5 EK6,
EK7 and EK8 are photographs showing with sufficient clarity the impact
of this assault on the Applicant’s home. “That the by virtue of this
contact the soldiers had with the Applicant in his room on this 14th day
of September 2017, the soldiers must know where the Applicant is, his
fate and state of health”. He told the court that “the rampaging
Soldiers”, busted into Kanu’s room in the course of the “bloody attack
and shoot at everything on sight, including living objects”. Attached
and variously marked Exhibits EK9, EK10, EK11, EK12, EK13 and EK14, in
the suit, were photographs and video footage the deponent said was
evidence of the “dastardly attack on the home of the Applicant,
including the bullets holes in his bedroom”. He said: “That the trigger
happy Soldiers shot sporadically into the air, for about forty minutes,
before forcing their way into the Applicant’s house. “That the Applicant
only managed to alert his Lawyer- Bar Ifeanyi Ejiofor on the war-like
deafening sounds of guns, being fired into the air, which shooting was
targeted at the unarmed and defenseless members of the Applicant’s
household, and IPOB members who were on a visit to the Applicant’s
house. “That his Lawyer Bar. Ifeanyi Ejiofor quickly issued a statement
drawing the attention of the world to the bloody attack going on in the
Applicant’s house, which statement was promptly published by reputable
online media houses”.
According to the affidavit, the soldiers took away many dead bodies and
arrested over 48 persons. Kanu’s lawyers told the court that search so
far conducted by the Applicant’s siblings had not been yielded any
fruit, as the Applicant is still missing, adding that the palace of
their aged father, housing the Applicant’s apartment, inclusive of the
Applicant’s building, was shattered with mortar bullets. They told the
court that they have made several entreaties to the Respondent to direct
his Soldiers to release the Applicant or his body for a befitting
burial if he was killed in the onslaug, saying that their effort has not
yeilded fruit
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