The police in Enugu on Thursday declared that the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra was responsible for the bombing of the country home of the President General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Chief Nnia Nwodo, on April 29.
Improvised explosive devices were used in the attack on the Ohanaeze leader’s residence at Ukehe, in the Nsukka area of Enugu.
The explosion damaged windows and doors in the building, as well as parts of the wall.
The police announced on Thursday that investigations had revealed that IPOB was responsible for the attack.
Two suspects — Gabriel Alagba, 35, and Ekene Okechukwu, 30, — said to be IPOB members, were paraded by the Commissioner of Police, Enugu State, Mohammed Danmallam, for the crime.
Danmallam explained that the suspects were identified and apprehended, through several threat text messages sent to Nwodo.
Danmallam said, “Those who attacked the residence of Ohanaeze Ndigbo’s President General, Chief Nnia Nwodo, have been arrested through intelligence information.
“Through our investigations, we discovered that they are members of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra.
“They sent several threatening text messages to Chief Nnia Nwodo and it was through the messages that they were arrested.”
However, the two suspects denied responsibility for the bombing, although one of them — Gabriel Alagba, a self-confessed IPOB member — admitted sending the threatening messages to Nwodo.
The other suspect, Ekene Okechukwu, said he was not a member of IPOB.
Some of the threat messages were sent to Nwodo through a phone number registered in Okechukwu’s name but he claimed that he lost the phone bearing the phone number some months back and forgot to block the line or retrieve it.
According to him, he has no other phone at the moment, as he has no money to get a new one.
In a chat with journalists, Alagba explained that he obtained Nwodo’s phone number when it was announced during a broadcast programme on Radio Biafra.
The IPOB member, a native of Ebonyi State but based in Lagos, said, “I am Alagba Gabriel, a member of IPOB. I sent messages to Nnia Nwodo. I am very sorry for that because I don’t know the man in person. Nobody asked me to send the messages but I got Nwodo’s phone number when it was given out on Radio Biafra when they were discussing what the person (Nwodo) did (to IPOB).
“When I heard what he did, I was very annoyed that very day. So, I sent that person (Nwodo) a text message.”
Although Nwodo’s house was eventually bombed after the threat, Alagba said he was not responsible for the attack.
On his part, Okechukwu, a native of Anambra State, said he knew nothing of the incident, apart from the fact that his phone number was used to send threatening messages to the Ohanaeze leader.
Enugu State Commissioner of Police, Danmallam, said the suspects would be “charged to court” after investigations.
Nwodo had been the subject of intensive media attacks by IPOB, which claimed he collaborated with the South-East governors to invite the Nigerian Army to ‘silence’ its leader, Nnamdi Kanu, and kill its members during Operation Python Dance.
IPOB also opposes restructuring, which is being championed by Nwodo.
