At least four people were killed Monday in a bomb attack on the convoy of a former governor of Nigeria’s southeastern state of Imo, the scene of a spike in attacks blamed on the separatist group Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).
According to information reported by the Nigerian newspaper ‘The Premium Times’, the ex-governor Ikedi Ohakim was unharmed, although four policemen assigned to his escort were killed in the attack, carried out in the locality of Ehime Mbano.
Ohakim, who was governor between 2007 and 2011, was returning from a visit with two of his children at the time of the assault. Sources close to the politician indicated that he was «the main target» and added that he was able to escape thanks to the driver’s maneuvers to get away from the place.
IPOB has claimed responsibility for numerous attacks in Imo in recent months, although it has not yet commented on the incident.
The group, founded by Nnamdi Kanu in the UK in 2014 and declared a terrorist group by Abuja, has emerged as the voice of the Biafrans, not least thanks to Radio Biafra, which broadcasts from London for southeastern Nigeria.
The Biafra region proclaimed its independence from Nigeria on May 30, 1967, triggering a bloody civil war that lasted for three years and left more than a million people dead, most of them from starvation.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
