The peaceful protest embarked on Tuesday by the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) against the continued incarceration of Mr. Nnamdi Kalu, Director of Radio Biafra, turned bloody at about 1.30 am in the early hours of Wednesday after an alleged encounter by the Joint Military Taskforce comprising, Army, Navy, Police and Civil Defence who clashed at Niger Bridge Head with some members of IPOB who vowed to continue their blockage of the bridge for three days until Kanu is released.
The encounter left about nine people dead, five at Niger Bridge Head, three at Obodoukwu Road, a Suya meat seller said to have been hit by stray bullet who died instantly.
Miscreants on hearing that some people have been shot dead by the joint Military taskforce began another protest, marched to the Central Mosque near Onitsha Main Market and set it ablaze. A Hilux pick-up van with Federal Government number plate was also burnt when the Joint Military Taskforce held motorists and commuters hostage at Upper Iweka with sporadic shooting that has never been witnessed before in Onitsha.
The protesting IPOB members had blocked the Niger Bridge early Tuesday morning and thereby grounded vehicular movement in and outside Onitsha, and people who knew the alternative route across the River Niger boarded flying and speed boats through Marine Police station to cross in and out of Onitsha to Asaba. But incidentally, the protest was aggravated in the Wednesday early hours with the shooting to death of five IPOB members at about 1.30 am who were observing their three days’ protest at the Niger Bridge Head against the continued detention of their leader, Nnamdi Kanu.
As at the time filing this report, all the markets in Onitsha have been shut around 12.30 pm, as millions of traders in all the markets in Onitsha and its environs were scampering for safety and trekking to their homes, looking tired and worried, as gunshots were sporadically blasting away in almost every corner in Onitsha.
The protesters had their peaceful protest on Tuesday without any casualty; but the situation was aggravated when the Joint Military Taskforce which could not disperse them on Tuesday invaded the Niger Bridge at about 1.30 am and opened fire on the thousands of the IPOB members who refused to leave the Niger Bridge, the entry to South East, killing six people including the Suya seller said to have been hit by a stray bullet.
The alleged killing of the IPOB members was said to have sparked off another protest by IPOB members who were joined by MASSOB members who made born fires along Onitsha Owerri Road and Onitsha Enugu Expressway, forcing motorists coming in and out of Onitsha from both Enugu, Asaba, Owerri difficult to enter or exit.
One of our reporters who went to Oba for an assignment was trapped at Oba Junction, where he had to pay N3,000 from Oba Junction to Tazan Junction in Onitsha, as over 2,000 vehicles coming into Onitsha were parked at the Oba junction and refused to come into Onitsha.
…MASSOB, IPOB deny setting ablaze Onitsha Central Mosque, vehicles
Following the groundswell protests at Ontisha, Anambra State and other states of the South-east geopolitical zone staged by members of the Movement for the Actualization of Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) and the Indigenous People of Biafra (IBOP) last Tuesday calling on the Federal Government to release their detained leader, Nnamdi Kanu, the two pro-Biafra groups on Wednesday dissociated themselves from acts of arson and violence that culminated in the razing of Onitsha Central Mosque and burning of some vehicles.
Subsequently, the Inspector General of Police Solomon Arase warned that the Nigerian Police Force (NPF) will henceforth arrest and prosecute persons found to be engaged in the breakdown of law and order by way of protests especially in the old eastern region.
Over 40,000 members and sympathizers of MASSOB and IPOB last Tuesday shut down commercial and business activities in the South-east geopolitical zone in an avowed stance for the creation of the sovereign State of Biafra hinged on perceived injustice, marginalization and neglect meted out to the people of the region.
Acting MASSOB leader Uchenna Madu in a statement which reads in part, ”The setting of Ontisha Central Mosque, vehicles ablaze and making bonfires which depict violence are not done by the members of IPOB or MASSOB under my leadership.
“This unwarranted acts of violence are perfected by hoodlums sponsored by agents of the Federal Government to create impression that non-violence and peaceful pro-Biafra groups have turned violent on our agitation for Biafra. Our oppressors are no longer comfortable. There is no evidence of terrorism in our protest. How can we now resort to violence now that we’re told that the Presidency is about negotiating with leaders of the pro-Biafra groups?
“With today’s killing of our members and injuring many with bullet shots, we are no longer comfortable with the Presidency’s move for dialogue. Federal Government’s move for dialogue is hypocritical and deceitful. Any Igbo group, organization and persons negotiating, meeting or dialoguing with the Presidency on our behalf without our consent or mandate should stop now.
“MASSOB led by Uchenna Madu and IPOB led by Nnamdi Kanu have never mandated any person to negotiate for us. Even in this persecution, arrest, killings, clampdown, suppression against us by Nigerian government, we shall continue and intensify our non-violence agitation for Biafra. For Nigeria to release their Armed Forces against non-violence, defenceless Biafra agitators shows their wickedness and the devilish mind of President Muhammad Buhari against our people.”
-Vanguard
