The second in command of the Eastern Security Network (ESN), Awurum Eze, has been arrested by the Nigerian Army in Aba, Abia State.
This was disclosed by the Army spokesperson, Mohammed Yerima, in a statement on Wednesday.
Yerima said Eze is the assistant to the late Ikonso, the ESN commander, who was killed weeks back in a gunfire exchange with security agents.
The Army said Eze was arrested because he was one of the main sponsors of the recent coordinated attacks on security agents and facilities in Imo State.
The statement added that Eze and the late Ikonso had direct link with the leader of the IPOB, Nnamdi Kanu.
The full statement by the Army read:
SECURITY FORCES ARREST ANOTHER IPOB/ESN TERRORISTS’ HENCHMAN
The Second in Command to the neutralized IPOB/ESN Terrorist leader Ikonso, Awurum Eze, has been arrested by security operatives in Aba, Abia State.
The 48 years old Awurum Eze, a native of Umoneke Nta, Isiala-Mbano LGA, Imo State, had on the 4th of May 2021 escaped when operatives of the Intelligence Response Team (IRT) stormed his village house in Isiala Mbano where he was hiding.
An intensive manhunt was thereafter launched towards tracing and arresting him. He was eventually apprehended on Wednesday, 12 May 2022, in Aba after weeks of unrelenting follow-ups by operatives.
Awurum Eze is one of the main sponsors of the numerous killings in Imo State and has been on the wanted list of security agents for more than 3 months. Many of the arrested IPOB /ESN terrorists had earlier mentioned him as their key sponsor, mastermind and Second in Command to late Ikonso. According to them, amongst all their leaders in Imo State, only Ikonso and Awurum have direct communication link with Nnamdi Kanu. He can be seen in several photographs posing with the fugitive terrorist leader, Nnamdi Kanu.
An investigation by the combined team of security operatives continues.
Mohammed Yerima
Brigadier General
Director Army Public Relations
May 12, 2021
