But while visiting Owerri, Mr. Adamu fired as police chief by Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari. It was a month before his term would end, and the reasons for his dismissal were unclear.
It is 51 years since the end of the Nigerian civil war in which people in the eastern region of the rest of the country are breaking away. Biafra, the state they created, came to an end when its leaders surrendered after 30 months of fighting.
But the Biafran dream is alive and well.
It is nurtured by Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of the indigenous people of Biafra, a populist figure who spreads conspiracy theories, including one that the Nigerian president died and was replaced by a body double. Nevertheless, Mr. Kanu managed to get a big following.
Biafra’s continued popularity – and the group’s – can be attributed in part to the rampant police abuse that a generation of Nigerians rose to under the banner of the #EndSARS movement last fall.
Young people in southeastern states have been complaining for years about arbitrary arrests, torture and killings by the security forces, which usually come from other regions of Nigeria. Believing that Biafra should be a separate country, many residents of the southeast say that the heavy military presence in the region is reminiscent of an occupying foreign army.
The jail break is part of a pattern of attacks on national security forces. According to local media reports, six police stations were destroyed and ten police officers were killed in the southeast over two weeks by gunmen during two weeks.
“In the course of events, Nigeria could host 30 to 40 insurgent groups in two years, as the government pushes the people against the wall,” said criminologist Umeagbalasi.
Ben Ezeamalu reports from Lagos, Nigeria, and Ruth Maclean from Dakar, Senegal.