UMUAHIA, Nigeria—Six months after the raid, the house still lies in shambles. Its walls are pocked with bullet holes; clothes are strewn about the grounds; and the windshields of the cars on the property are shattered.
Located in the city of Umuahia, the capital of Abia state in southeast Nigeria, the house belongs to the family of Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, or IPOB, a group that wants this corner of the country to form a breakaway nation dominated by members of the Igbo ethnic group. On the morning of Sept. 14, Kanu and other members of his family were sitting at home, witnesses say, when a detachment of Nigerian soldiers stormed the compound, shooting automatic weapons indiscriminately into the air. The IPOB says more than 20 of its members either were killed during the attack or disappeared after it. Kanu himself has not been seen or heard from since.
Listen to Eromo Egbejule discuss this article on WPR’s Trend Lines Podcast. His audio starts at 16:01.