The Nigeria Police Force has alleged a 22-year-old lady, Gloria Okolie, of acting as an intermediary, who receives cash, drugs and weapons on behalf of the Indigenous People of Biafra.
The force also alleged that she delivers the items to IPOB commanders in their camps.
This is coming 66 days after detaining the lady who was said to be a girlfriend of a suspected IPOB member.
The PUNCH gathered that Okolie was apprehended on June 17, 2021, but the police kept her whereabouts secret.
However, after a public outcry generated by her family’s narrative, which went viral on social media on Wednesday, the Inspector General of Police, Usman Baba, ordered a probe.
Okolie turned to a maid, washing, cooking in detention – Activist
A rights activist and Director General, Behind Bars Initiative, Harrison Gwamnishu, posted about Okolie’s unlawful detention on Facebook and how she was allegedly turned into a ‘maid,’ washing clothes and cooking food at the IRT office in Owerri, before she was later moved to the unit’s headquarters in Abuja.
Cash transaction slips of N220,000 allegedly collected by the policemen from Okolie’s relations were also attached to the post.
The post read in part, “21-year-old Miss Glory Okolie, who enrolled for the 2021 JAMB exam, has been in police detention since 17th June, 2021 till date. She left the house and never returned.
“Since 17th June, her family had searched for her in hospitals and mortuaries but couldn’t find her. Ending of June 2021, a young man who was freed from the IRT office Tiger Base, Owerri, told the Okolie family that he saw Glory in the custody of IRT officers cooking and washing clothes for them.
“The family immediately went to the IRT office and requested to see Glory and bail her out and till date, it’s been one story or the other. The IRT officers allegedly continued to extort the family and denied them access to see Glory. Our team launched an investigation and discovered Glory has been transferred to Abuja and tagged an IPOB/ESN member.”
In a statement on Sunday and signed by the Deputy Force Public Relations Officer, CSP Aremu Adeniran, Okolie was accused of also being a member and spy of the Eastern Security Network controlled by the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra.
Adeniran, in the statement titled, ‘violent attacks in the South-East: Police arrest militants’ spy girl’, did not state the date of arrest of the lady.
Part of the statement read, “Operatives of the Nigeria Police Force, working with the Military and other security forces, have arrested one 22-year-old female suspect, Gloria Okolie, for her complicity in the series of deliberate and well-coordinated attacks on security formations, other critical national infrastructure including INEC offices and killing of security operatives in the South-Eastern part of the country.
“The suspect, a native of Umutanza in Imo State, was arrested following ongoing investigations and implementation of special operation, Operation Restore Peace, to amongst other things, break the information, drugs and arms supply chain to the outlawed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and its armed wing, the Eastern Security Network in the South-East region.
“Police Investigations revealed that Gloria Okolie is a member of IPOB/ESN in Imo State who worked closely with one Benjamin Uzoma Emojiri a.k.a “Onye Army”, one of the ESN commanders earlier declared wanted by the Police for his lead roles in planning, coordinating and executing the attack on the Imo State Police Command Headquarters and Imo State Headquarters of the Nigerian Correctional Service. ”
…She will be arraigned
The statement claimed that Okolie’s arrest and the revelations from her confession assisted the Police in the arrest of “Onye Army”.
It added, “Further investigations by the Police team revealed that Gloria Okolie takes advantage of her gender and seemingly innocuous looks as camouflage to carry out espionage against military and police targets on behalf of IPOB/ESN. The suspect also serves as an intermediate person, who receives cash, drugs and weapons on behalf of IPOB/ESN and deliver same to their commanders in their camps.
“Through her clandestine criminal activities, she actively aided and abetted the multiple acts of murder, arson and malicious damage to both private and public property by the ESN. A lot of the deadly and unfortunate attacks on security personnel and assets, with numerous fatalities, have the imprimaturs of Gloria Okolie, the spy girl of ESN militants. Investigation is being concluded to enable the Police arraign her in court for prosecution.”
