DSS Reveals in Court How IPOB Allegedly Murdered Gulak, 200 Security Personnel

On Wednesday, the Federal High Court in Abuja heard the case of the 2021 murder of Ahmad Gulak, a former presidential assistant, in Imo State.

The Indigenous Peoples of Biafra and its armed wing, the Eastern Security Network, were responsible for the deaths of 170 to 200 security personnel in the Southeast, the court also heard.

The National Broadcasting Commission denied arrested IPOB leader Nnamdi Kanu a license to import the radio transmitter he allegedly sneaked into the nation to run Radio Biafra, the court also heard.

The depositions were taken by a Department of State Services official who was testifying as the fourth prosecution witness in Kanu’s ongoing terrorism trial.

Prosecuting attorney Adegboyega Awomolo (SAN) led the witness in testifying before the court that one ESN member, identified as Uzuoma Benjamin, also known as Onye Army, described how they allegedly received orders from Kanu to kill security guards and make sure that a deceased group member, Ikonso, was buried with 2000 human heads.

Only 30 of the 2000 human skulls that were sought to be buried with Ikonso were ultimately found, according to the DSS official, after more inquiry.

The witness also read the Onye Army’s assertion that he and his gang members made charms for the protection of ten ladies by using their heads.

Investigations, he added, showed that Kanu had ordered his supporters to attack and murder Federal Government of Nigeria security personnel during one of his broadcasts, which led to the IPOB militants’ invasion of Owerri prison.

The DSS sent a letter to the NBC to inspect the transmitter, the witness said, shortly after he and his crew had retrieved it from a location in Ubuluisiuzor, Anambra State, and transported it to Abuja.

The witness informed the judge that on November 9, 2015, an engineer from NBC visited the transmitter and prepared a report.

The NBC’s provisional assessment of the radio transmitter report was subsequently provided by Awomolo in a certified true copy.

The witness read a section of the report after being asked to do so. According to the study, the transmitter was manufactured in Germany and was designed to operate on FM frequencies, he claimed.

The witness said the report also claimed that Radio Biafra has not been granted a license by NBC to broadcast in Nigeria and that such a transmitter could only be purchased and placed once a license was granted.

According to his team’s inquiry, the DSS official went on to say that in order to operate a radio station in the nation, one needs to apply to a regulator, who will grant a license following the necessary approval by the appropriate security authorities.

The witness stated, “The defendant in Kanu’s case did not submit an application; he brought the transmitter in unlawfully and without authorization.”

He added that an inquiry had shown that the defendant was the owner of the transmitter, which he had stored on Benjamin Madubugu’s property.

The witness stated that Kanu later entered the nation, examined the transmitter, and produced a video to appease IPOB members who had paid for its acquisition.

He also perused several articles in the Vanguard newspaper that claimed an ESN commander who had been captured had admitted to the group’s operations.

He stated that when the DSS asked the police to get access to Onye Army, they indicated he had gotten out of detention.

According to him, “We saw some ESN members, about seven, with human heads and some eating human flesh, which they said was for spiritual fortification,” during a raid by DSS agents on the hideout of ESN members.

Read Also: Ahmed: No Cause For Nigerians To Stone Tinubu, APC Leadership

We were unable to locate Onye Army. He had fled from detention, according to the police.

According to him, documents exist about the number of security agents who are reportedly killed in the Southeast, and it ranges from 170 to 200.

All security agencies were affected, according to the witness, who claimed that two DSS officials, including his driver, were among the victims.

The witness described how the ESN members behave, claiming that they are armed combatants who have attacked the residences of notable people and local traditional leaders.

“They sometimes set up roadblocks during which they hijack vehicles for their operation because they lacked sufficient operational tools,” he said.

According to the witness, police stations and other public property in the Southeast East were attacked and destroyed by IPOB and ESN militants.

According to the witness, he was one of the first people to arrive to the scene of Gulak’s death and help recover his body.

In one of his broadcasts on May 30, 2021, he said that the defendant’s stay-at-home order caused a complete collapse of law and order.

Later that day, the witness stated, one of his officers told him that a well-known politician had been killed in the vicinity of Obiagwu, and they arrived at the scene to witness the incident.

Gulak was assassinated by some IPOB members while in a hired taxi, he claimed the local Divisional Police Officer (DPO) informed him.

The driver informed the witness that they were traveling from Owerri town to the airport when they noticed a checkpoint set up by Nigerian Air Force personnel blocking access. They chose to take a different route, but they encountered an IPOB checkpoint along the way.

He went on to say that the driver also said that the IPOB militants had told the three people in the car to get out and asked them to identify their tribes.

He claimed that the driver informed him that Gulak also identified as an Igbo man and that he had introduced himself as such. However, Gulak was unable to speak Igbo when they requested him to do so, even though he (the driver) could. They then ordered him to take off his cap, and they noticed a Muslim prayer inscribed on his forehead.

When the driver saw the prayer marked, the witness said, one of the IPOB militants screamed, “He is one of them,” and they shot and murdered him.

The deceased’s body was removed from the scene of his death in his (the witness’) vehicle, the DSS official, who claimed to have served in Imo State from 2019 to 2023, informed the court.

The defense attorney, Onyechi Ikpeazu (SAN), cross-examined the witness, who stated that there was no documentation of the importation of the transmitter that Kanu was allegedly smuggling into the nation.

He claimed that although he was not able to determine when the transmitter was smuggled into the nation, he was one of the people who found its storage facility in Anambra State and transported it to the DSS headquarters in Abuja.

The witness stated that Kanu was arrested in Lagos in 2016 along with his broadcast equipment when he was questioned about whether he knew that Radio Biafra was registered in London and operated from there.

He said that he was not there when the defendant was taken into custody in Lagos and that the only information he shared regarding the arrest was what was communicated to him.