Nigeria Offers ₦30 Million Bounty for Separatist Commander ‘Gentle the Yahoo,’ Sparking Sharp Regional Divide

Locals accuse him of killings and kidnappings; separatist supporters abroad call the bounty political persecution.

By Ebere Inyama

(Owerri, Imo state) Following a ₦30 million ($22,000) bounty placed on the head of notorious South-East separatist commander, Ifeanyi Eze Okorienta, widely known as ‘Gentle the Yahoo,’ opinions are sharply divided between members of the Biafran Republican Government In Exile (BRGIE) and natives of Orsu, Orlu and Okigwe Local Government Areas (Counties), TruthNigeria has learned.

Whereas most indigenes of Orsu, Orlu and Okigwe as well as their sympathizers across the southeast states expressed support for the bounty placed on ‘Gentle De Yahoo’, members of BRGIE and hundreds of online commentators insist that ‘Gentle the Yahoo’  is a freedom fighter and should not be declared wanted.

“Indigenes of Orsu, Orlu and Okigwe are angry with ‘Gentle the Yahoo’  for attracting military operations including aerial bombardments to their homes which forced nearly all the residents in the areas to flee”, said Mr. Okwudiri Chukwu, an indigene of Orlu county to TruthNigeria.

“The gun battle between the military and the Biafran Liberation Army led by ‘Gentle De Yahoo’ has ceased for over a year now but the scar still remains as most of the affected households are afraid to return to their homes”, Chukwu added.

The Biafra Liberation Army is an armed militant group launched in September 2023 by Finland-based agitator Simon Ekpa to defend the self-declared territory of Biafra

Who is ‘Gentle De Yahoo’?

‘Gentle the Yahoo,’ whose real name is Ifeanyi Eze Okorienta, hails from Aku community in Okigwe Local Government Area of Imo state.  

He handled mediation of land disputes in his community, Aku in Okigwe, Imo State, for some years but his involvement in these disputes eventually turned violent, leading to his being chased out of his community in 2021, according to reports from the media.

Upon being expelled from his community, Okolienta joined the Biafran Liberation Army – the militant wing of the Biafran Republican Government In Exile (BRGIE), from where he rose to the post of commander. He has been accused of killing police officers and soldiers as well as engaging in kidnapping and the extortion of innocent civilians.

His violent activities, especially his group’s enforcement of the already suspended ‘sit – at – home order’ (a weekly work strike by residents of the southeast region in protest against the detention of the Leader of the Indigenous People Of Biafra,  Nnamdi Kanu), prompted the Nigerian army to invade the communities in Orsu and Orlu Local Governments between 2021 and 2023.

The invasion by the Nigerian Army left the communities deserted and many houses destroyed.

Bounty placed 4 months after ‘arrest’

Nigeria’s Premium Times reported on Oct. 17, 2025 that military operatives on Oct. 13 had “captured the notorious terror kingpin, Gentle the Yahoo’ during an operation in Imo State.”

But after he surfaced online in a video in January, 2026, the military high command, speaking through the Director of Defence Media Operations, Major General Michael Onoja, refuted the video, stating that “the video might have been generated using Artificial Intelligence.”

Eight months after refuting the video, the Nigerian army declared ‘Gentle De Yahoo’ wanted and went further to place a ₦30m bounty on his head.

 “A reward of ₦30,000,000 awaits anyone who provides credible information leading to the capture of Gentle De Yahoo threatening peace in the South-east,” the notice reads in part.

When arresting me failed, they poisoned me: Okolienta

4 months after the Nigerian army claimed to have arrested him, ‘ Gentle De Yahoo’ resurfaced in a social media video where-in he disclosed that he and several of his fighters had gone into hiding after being poisoned by one of his associates. 

According to him, the Nigerian army and the Department of State Services (DSS) connived with the governors of Ebonyi, Anambra, Enugu and Imo states to kill him through food poisoning.

“These governors gave ₦500 million ($365,000) to security agencies to ensure that my men and I were eliminated, so they used an associate of mine, a native of Isiukwuato in Abia State, who is based in Kenya, Mr. Earnest Maduabuchi, to deliver a poisoned wine to us which we drank unsuspectingly,” Okorienta had said in the video.

“I nearly died after drinking the wine, but I survived by the special grace of Chukwu Okike Abiama (God Almighty), and because of the poison he gave to us, Maduabuchi has lost his two story building in Owerri,” Okorienta added. 

Speaking during an interview with TruthNigeria, a security operative who pleaded anonymity said that “‘Gentle De Yahoo’ may not be hiding in the forests. Rather, he may be hiding in an estate in the townships of Imo, Abia or Ebonyi state due to the intensified manhunt for him.”

BRGIE defends ‘Gentle the Yahoo’

In a press release dated 7 September, 2026 and copied to President Donald Trump, the FBI, the CIA and INTERPOL among others, the Deputy Prime Minister of the Biafran Republican Government In Exile (BRGIE), Dr. Ngozi Orabueze faulted the ₦30 million bounty placed on Okorienta.

“This is systemic state-sponsored forced removal, selective justice & political persecution”, the petition read.

“Nigeria military can find ₦30 million for bounty on Biafran, but cannot find Ezinna and Dominion who were forcefully removed by their agent Chibuzo Egwuatu aka Ikenga Uruagu?”, the petition continued.

“Remove N30m bounty on Gentle The Yahoo — stop hunting Biafrans”, the petition added. 

Dr. Ngozi Orabueze, a United States-based nurse practitioner and political candidate running for election to the Georgia State Senate as a Republican, assumed the leadership position of BRGIE after the Prime Minister, Simon Ekpa, was imprisoned in Finland in September, 2025.

Okorienta Mocks Nigerian Army 

In a viral audio shared online on 10 September 2026, Ifeanyi Okolienta, alias ‘Gentle the Yahoo’, flayed the Nigerian army for offering ₦30m as bounty on his head.

“ For them to place ₦30m on my head is a very big insult to me”, Okorienta said. 

“ At least they should have raised it to ₦50 billion ( $36.5 million), Okorienta added.

Speaking further in the audio message, Okorienta alleged that the reason why the ₦30m bounty has been placed on his head is because he exposed a plot by some corrupt officials of Indigenous People Of Biafra (IPOB) to keep Simon Ekpa in prison until after the 2027 elections in Nigeria.

Ebere Inyama reports on conflict and religious freedom for TruthNigeria.

Related