A mob in Imo State has beaten an escaped inmate identified as Obiwanne Iwu, to death, while trying to enforce the sit-at-home order by the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).
Mike Abattam, Imo State police command spokesperson, who confirmed the incident on Monday shortly after it occurred, said residents of Umuagbavo Oru Ahiara in Ahiazu Mbaise Local Government Area of the state were going about their lawful businesses, when the deceased and some other persons came to enforce the order.
The police spokesman said the harassment did not go down well with the residents, who resisted the gang.
He said the mob caught Iwu, tied his hands behind his back, while other members in his group fled the scene.
Abattam explained that in the process, the suspect was beaten to death before the police patrol team arrived at the scene.
“One Obinwanne Iwu, 34 years, a native of Ahiara in the same local government area who is an escapee of Imo Correctional Centre, Owerri, went to the market with his gang trying to enforce a sit-at-home order of the proscribed IPOB/ESN terror group,” Abattam said.
“They were shouting at the top of their voices that ‘today is Monday and everybody must obey the sit at home order’.
“Efforts made by the police patrol team arrest the perpetrators proved abortive as they all fled the scene on sighting the patrol team.”
He added that Rabiu Hussaini, the commissioner of police in the state, has directed that the suspects must be handed over to the police for proper investigation.
Commercial activities had returned to major parts of Owerri, the Imo capital, on Monday, weeks after IPOB declared the sit-at-home order.
On July 30, IPOB ordered a sit-at-home in the South-east every Monday until Nnamdi Kanu, its leader, is released from the custody of the Department of State Services (DSS).
The group, however, later announced a suspension of the directive, but parts of the region had remained deserted on Mondays, despite the reversal of the order.
