Troops of the 82 Division, Enugu, on Thursday August 27 2020, disrupted a clandestine gathering of members of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) at Coal Camp in Enugu North LGA and arrested scores of participants.

The soldiers, acting on a tip-off, arrived at the scene on August 27, 2020, and ordered that the meeting be discontinued. IPOB leaders present allegedly hesitated to obey the directive, resulting in sporadic gunshots that threw the area into panic, with residents and participants scrambling for safety.

At the end of the skirmish, six men were reportedly killed, while many others were arrested by the soldiers, who, according to sources, have vowed to pursue fleeing members of the outlawed group.

Among the dead, it was learned, were two siblings, Kenechukwu Okpara and Okenna Okpara, who had attended the meeting alongside their brother, Stanley Ifeanyi Okpara, whose whereabouts are currently unknown, fueling fears that he may have been fatally injured or arrested and detained in a DSS facility.

The army has, however, denied killing anyone during the encounter but confirmed that some of the arrested IPOB members sustained injuries. The separatist group, however, claimed that some of its members were killed in the incident.

Sources hinted that the Enugu tragedy is not the first to befall the Okpara family, as a prominent member of the family was previously killed by the Nigerian Army while attending an IPOB meeting in Onitsha, Anambra State, on February 7, 2018.

Military authorities have also stated that Stanley Ifeanyi Okpara is wanted for allegedly aiding IPOB in activities they claim have destabilized the socio-economic structure of Enugu State and, by extension, the South-East region, vowing to arrest him dead or alive.

Incidences of military raids and alleged unlawful arrests of youths in Enugu and across South-Eastern Nigeria have become commonplace, as the Nigerian state continues efforts to curb violent agitations and crimes allegedly linked to the Eastern Security Network (ESN), described as the armed wing of IPOB operating in the region.