The Department of State Security Service (DSS) yesterday told a Federal High Court in Abuja that the paramilitary wing of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), the Eastern Security Network (ESN), is an illegal security organisation without the backing of law.

IPOB, a proscribed proBiafra separatist movement, had early in December 2020 launched the ESN as a reaction to the perceived targeted killings of Igbos by Fulani herdsmen.

However, testifying under re-examination in the ongoing trial of the detained leader of IPOB, Nnamdi Kanu, a prosecution witness and a personnel of the DSS, simply identified as BBB, told the court that the Eastern Security Network is an illegal organisation, because it was not established by any existing law.

The witness was responding to a question by the prosecution counsel, Chief Adegboyega Awolowo (SAN), to differentiate between the ESN and Amotekun in the South-western region of the country.

The DSS witness told the court that while the ESN was formed by Kanu with out any backing of the law, the Amotekun security outfit on the other hand has legal backing from the respective Houses of Assembly of the affected states.

He said Amotekun was set up in the six states of the South West to complement the efforts of security agencies in curbing insecurity, especially kidnapping, armed robbery as well as herdsmen and farmers contentions in the region.

“My lord, while the ESN is not a registered organisation under any law, Amotekun was established following the law passed by the respective Houses of Assembly in the affected States,” the witness clarified.”