Chidi Samuel || The Ariara police station in Aba, Abia State was Thursday morning burnt and a police officer injured by suspected members of the Indigenous peoples of Biafra ( IPOB).
Geoffrey Ogbona, the Abia police spokesman while confirming the incident, said the attack was carried out around 6:30 a.m, amid ongoing military operation there.
Ogbonna said, “Ariaria police station (Aba) was burnt down this morning.” “The people that did this we are suspecting they are IPOB hoodlums.”
“The people that did this we are suspecting they are IPOB hoodlums.”
“The people came in their number, besieged the station and one of our police men was beaten up,” he said, adding that “but glory be to God, we did not lose the officer’s life.”
Mr. Ogbona said while the violence was underway, the police restrained itself, failing to respond in kind.
“If anything like that had taken place, it would have worsened the situation,” Mr. Ogbona told this newspaper.
The police spokesman, however, denied the report by Television Continental (TVC) that the Umuahia residence of the commissioner of Police for Abia State was attacked on Thursday morning by IPOB.
“That of (attack on) the residence of the Commissioner is not true,” he said. “What happened there was that the place is close to the residence of the IPOB leader, Nnamdi Kanu; so, when people see IPOB members gather around there they may think something like that (attack) was happening.”
Ogbonna equally said that normalcy has returned to Aba after Wednesday’s targeted attack on the Hausa community.
“When we got wind of this, my commissioner moved to Aba and the issue was addressed. All the Hausa people were assured of their safety and they returned to their businesses,” he said.