BREAKING: Biafra agitators arrested in Benue State – BNL

A pro-Biafra group, Biafra Nations League (BNL) has claimed that three of its members have been arrested in Jatuka, a town bordering Cameroon in Benue State.

Questions of who effected the arrest, why the arrest, when was the arrest made, and for what offence, is unclear as of the time of publishing this report. However, this newspaper understands that both Nigerian and Cameroonian authorities frown at separatism.

“Three of our members has been arrested in Jatuka, a town bordering Cameroon in Benue State,” a post on the verified Facebook page of BNL reads on Friday morning.

POLITICS NIGERIA cannot independently verify this claim though.

BNL, formerly known as Biafra Nations Youth League, has its operational base in Bakassi Peninsula.

The group is led by Princewill Chimezie Richard, alias Prince Obuka, and Ebuta Akor Takon (not to be mistaken by its former Deputy, Ebuta Ogar Takon). It also has a Chief of Staff and operational commander who are both natives of the Bakassi, BNL have also recorded series of security clamp down especially in Bakassi where soldiers of ‘Operations Delta Safe’ apprehended the National Leader, Princewill in Ikang-Cameroon border area on 9 November 2016 during an attempt to mobilise a protest in support of Nnamdi Kanu’s release, he was again re-arrested by Nigeria Police Force in the same area on 16 January 2018 along with 20 of their supporters. Many media outlets reported that BNL is linked to the Southern Cameroons separatists; although the group confirms this, they denied involvement in violent activities in the Cameroon. The Deputy Leader, Ebuta Akor Takon is an Ejagham native, a tribe in Nigerian and also in significant number in Cameroon.

BNL, which operates more in the Gulf of Guinea, has links with Dokubo Asari, a former militant leader. About 100 members of the group were reportedly arrested in Bayelsa during meeting with Dokubo on 18 August 2019.