Nigeria Security: More Than 50 Feared Dead As Security Agents Shoot IPOB Peaceful Protesters In Abia

  APRIL O4 , 2023 | EASTERN PILOT Report By: Ugochukwu Alaribe | UMUAHIA- Not less than fifty members of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IP...

 

APRIL O4 , 2023 | EASTERN PILOT

Report By: Ugochukwu Alaribe |

UMUAHIA- Not less than fifty members of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, have been feared dead as a combined team of security agents allegedly attacked the group in Aba, Abia State. IPOB members, who adorned white clothing had embarked on a peaceful street protest over the continued detention of their leader, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu despite the court order for his release. The protest which took off from East Street and Ngwa road axis through the Azikiwe road and Ama Ogbonna was peaceful until the combined team of security agents comprising soldiers and policemen allegedly blocked them as they marched from Ama Ogbonna junction to Osusu road.

The IPOB members allegedly defied the security order to disperse and started chanting;”Obey Court Order, Release Our Leader, Respect Your Own Court, The Court Has Freed Our Leader FG Why Holding Him.” Vanguard gathered that the incident happened at Osusu Road By St. John’s Anglican Church Aba as the combined team allegedly opened fire at the protesting IPOB members. The situation caused heavy panic in the area as residents and shop owners scampered to safety. The road was deserted as motorists avoided the area while some patrol vans comprising policemen and soldiers were seen racing to the area. A shop owner simply identified as Ndukwe told Vanguard that he was almost caught in the conflict but was saved by providence.

He said; “I was just coming from Faulks Road where I have already seen them, but when I got to Osusu, I saw people running and gunshots were fired from a distance by security men who were after the IPOB members protesting. I ran towards St Eugene Road because we were actually watching their protest from Faulks Road until the security men came and started shooting at them along Osusu road. “Later when I came out, I saw about three persons lying down motionless with blood all over although I was later told that two other persons also were killed at Osusu by Cemetery Road. I didn’t see those two but I learnt they carried some other of their members who were injured.”

Efforts to get the reaction of the Abia State Police Command to the incident was unsuccessful as calls and text messages sent to the Public Relations Officer, SP Geoffrey Ogbonna, were not responded to, as at the time of filing this report. However The Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, has warned Nigerian security agents against the killings of Igbos sympathetic to the Biafra cause. IPOB’s spokesman, Emma Powerful, said the killings of “Biafrans” would not go unavenged. Powerful issued the warning while reacting to the massacre of about 50 Igbos protesting for the release of IPOB’s leader, Nnamdi Kanu, in Aba, Abia State. A statement by Powerful reads partly: “The brutal murder of 50 protesters, forceful disappearances, and abduction of many, and gun injury to many more peaceful Biafran protesters for demanding the unconditional release of Kanu as Appeal Court has pronounced, that he has been discharged and acquitted is a grave atrocity.

“The supreme leader of IPOB is manhandled by the Nigerian government and its security agents in the DSS custody in Abuja. On black Friday, March 31, 2023, many of our people were murdered, and we shall duly recognize their sacrifice when Biafra history is written. “The continuous abduction and massacring of unarmed Biafrans by Nigeria terrorist security agencies shall not go unavenged at the appointed time. He who kills by the sword should be ready to die by the sword.”

Ifeanyi Ejiofor, the legal counsel to the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, Nnamdi Kanu, has accused the security agents including army and police for killing and kidnapping peaceful protesters in Aba, Abia state on Friday. Ejiofor said the protesters engaged in a peaceful demonstration against the continued incarceration of Kanu by the Department of State Services since June 2021, but were met with brutality by security agents. According to Ejiofor, in a statement issued on Saturday, no fewer than ten protesters were killed while more than 100 were as a result of the assault the security forces unleashed on them.

Kanu’s lawyer, then, vowed to explore legal means to get justice for the victims of the incident yesterday. The statement read, “A gut-wrenching and disturbing news broke yesterday, the 31st day of March, 2023, from Abia State, to the effect that the combined team of the Nigeria Police Force, the Nigerian Army and other sister security agencies, launched an unprovoked attack on innocent and unarmed citizens protesting the continued illegal and unconstitutional detention of our indefatigable Client – Onyendu Mazi Nnamdi Kanu. “During the bloody crackdown on unarmed civilians, over ten (10) persons were gruesomely murdered in cold blood, while over 100 persons were grievously injured by lethal weapons, and live ammunition used by these murderous security agents.

“Very disheartening is also the fact that over one hundred and fifty (150) persons amongst the peaceful protesters were abducted, and swiftly taken to unknown location(s) by the security agents, who equally confiscated and took away the dead bodies of those they killed. “Unfortunately, the foregoing troubling/disturbing news have been verified to be true. “It is indeed not a coincidence that this dastardly act is being committed on our land when the international community, more specifically, the Global Terrorism Index (GTI) group has beamed their searchlights on the unabated killings of innocent civilians in the South-East by both state and non-state actors.

“Yesterday’s unfortunate event/incident is a further confirmation of the fact that the appropriate institution/organization to classify/designate in the world Global Terrorism Index for their terrorist activities in the South-East, is the overzealous Nigerian Army and the Nigeria Police Force and other sister agencies, which have repeatedly shown no restraint in their dastardly acts of genocidal massacre of unarmed/innocent civilians in the South-East, without due regard to the rules of engagement obtainable in a civilised society. “The event of yesterday, has also irresistibly pointed to the fact that – the Nigerian Soldiers, Nigeria Police Force and others – actively involved in these heinous crimes against humanity, are the actual culprits, and as such, we are calling on the international community, responsible foreign governments and institutions, to reign in on the Nigerian government to call their overzealous/lawless security agents to account for this obvious crime against humanity.

“The Nigerian government must audit the details of these heinous crimes against unarmed civilians and genocidal massacre of citizens who are legitimately exercising their civil rights to protest and peaceful assembly as constitutionally  guaranteed in Nigeria’s constitution. “The bloody crackdown on innocent and unarmed civilians is not only sacrilegious but condemnable!!! Hence, we are calling on the Nigerian Security agents to release the dead bodies of those they massacred during the bloody crackdown on innocent protesters yesterday, and also to unconditionally and immediately release the protesters they illegally abducted during the bloody onslaught.

“This ethnic profiling, unprovoked attacks, bloody crackdown and genocidal killings of people from the South-East has gained more prominence recently, and continued unchecked, particularly, now that other non-state actors are involved in other states across Nigeria like Lagos; in the killing  of Igbos and destruction of their properties, without being arrested or countered. “We wish to reiterate our demand for the immediate release of those abducted during yesterday’s unprovoked bloody crackdown, as well as the release of the dead bodies of persons they massacred, to their respective families for proper burial.

“Be assured that we must explore all legal remedies available to the victims in the circumstance of this grave infraction to seek appropriate legal redress before the law courts. “Enough is enough!!!”

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