An Imo State man, Jeffrey Chijoke Ofoegbu, who escaped from the camp of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, after he was rescued by military forces fighting banditry and secession in South East, has cried for help from both government and foreign countries for his life and that of his family.
Ofoegbu was abducted by the goons for recruitment into the group but he refused to join the gang and in the process was tortured brutally for refusing to be a member of the proscribed organisation.
According to Ofoegbu, he was severely brutalised by the group which allegedly caused him to develop a mental disorder, and started behaving strangely since he escaped the gang.
The attempt to recruit Ofoegbu was due to the prevailing circumstances of maiming, kidnappings, killings, and ongoing destruction of lives in the South East and other regions in Nigeria, particularly in Imo.
Speaking on his ordeal, he said: “My name is Jeffrey Chijoke Ofoegbu, a citizen of Imo state of Nigeria, a trader in second-hand clothing (otherwise known as Okrika, before the ongoing instabilities in Imo state.
“There have been serious agitations and quests for a sovereign state of Biafra by a group of people operating under the name and style of Indigenous People of Biafra (IOPB). The group is deadly, violent, and destructive, and want every tribe of Igbo to be members,” he said.
Ofoegbu disclosed that precisely on the 30th of May 2021 at Owerri, Imo State, South East Nigeria, while he was in Dubai, his sister, and wife were seriously beaten up by the Nigerian soldiers under the strict instruction of the Nigerian government because of suspicion of being members of IPOB, which led to his sister’s three months miscarriage that nearly claimed her life.
“In the ensuing melee, there were indiscriminate shootings by the Nigerian soldiers and the members of IPOB, which saw my sister and my wife lying helplessly in between two dead bodies. “Let me emphasize here that, the ordeal my family in Nigeria are passing through as a result of this incident eventually resulted in a very serious mental torture for me, which I am suffering presently,” he said.
According to Ofoegbu, he refused to join the group when they approached him but later, he was abducted on one faithful Saturday and was taken to the gang’s camp in another community in Imo State adding that after they attempted to force his membership which he refused, they started to brutalise him with all manner of weapons.
“My refusal to join this proscribed group led to forceful search for me with the aim of taking my life. When it appeared difficult for them to capture me, they resorted to damaging and destroying my property, which made me lose my entire life earnings and possessions. I narrowly escaped being killed by this group in one of their encounters with the government of Nigeria, but regrettably, two of my close friends were killed in the shooting,” he narrated.
Speaking in an interview with our correspondent, Ofoegbu added, “Due to the continued insurgence in my area, I ran to Lagos Nigeria for safety, yet the group was not deterred. They came to my village and attacked my brothers and by then, I had fled to Lagos, where I went to seek refuge but the life threat continued by telling my family that they would kill me anywhere I may be because they feared that I might expose them.
“While I was hiding in Lagos, they were searching for me, and by the stroke of luck, I ran to Kaduna State, the northern part of Nigeria but it did not yet change anything, as I was also told that they were tracing me to Kaduna.
“It was at this point that I quickly made arrangements to leave Nigeria for Dubai where I stayed for six years. From far away in Dubai, I finalized marriage arrangements with my wife through consistent communication, and on mutual agreement, my wife moved to the UK before me and this was because of the need to sort out some vital issues with my family members in Nigeria before joining my wife in the UK,” he said.
He said upon return to Nigeria, to sort out issues with his family, the same dreaded IPOB gang on getting information that he was around, stormed his house to fish him out again but he managed to escape.
Before, he escaped from their hand; he had already sustained various degrees of injuries as a result of brutal beatings.
“They gave me several degrees of internal and external injuries on all parts of my body, particularly my head, which has now led me to experience great memory loss and migraines,” he added.
Ofoegbu narrated how he was gainfully engaged in his business before the outbreak of instability in the region.
According to him, “note that before the instabilities, I was gainfully employed and meaningfully working in Owerri, Imo state, the Eastern part of Nigeria. This harrowing experience caused me a great deal of stress, as I am presently depressed and placed on routine anti-depressant medications like serotonin, Dopamine, and Mirtazapine, which I have missed because of a lack of access to doctors and medical facilities.
“My life and that of my family in Nigeria are presently in great danger. I could only manage to take my wife along in this save-your-life race. Now, my aged parents are very sick and have got no money for treatment and medication, even as they have got no food to eat as well,” he said.
About The Author
