Police explains why they killed pro-Biafra agitators
Explaining the killings in Aba yesterday, the Abia State
Police Command said that security agents shot dead two members of a
pro-Biafran group for allegedly disturbing students in their school just
as the group claimed that 22 of its members have been confirmed dead
after the Tuesday shooting.
The state Police PRO, DSP Udeviotu Onyeke said the groups
involved were members of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, and
Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra, MASSOB.
He said: “Some of our men that were on convoy patrol got
information that the pro-Biafra groups were harassing students. Then,
the Aba Area Commander, Mr Peter Wabara ordered the policemen on ground
to go there and make them to leave the place as the schools were in
session and if they had wanted to hold their meeting, they should have
found another place in order not to disturb anybody.
“So when the police entered the place, they found that the
pro-Biafra groups were relatively calm, so the police took positions to
ensure that they did not do any harm. Police was only there to ensure
they did not come to cause break-down of law and order on the street.
But just as the Police was trying to persuade them to leave the place,
soldiers drove in and arrested five of their members and began to take
them away but the group members blocked the way of the military
personnel. That was when they started shooting at them.
“Before the police left the place, they picked two dead
unidentified persons from the ground and arrested 20 others while one
who was badly injured was taken to the hospital.”
He admitted that some other persons might have been injured in the stampede which the police did not know of during the crisis.
However, the state Coordinator of, MASSOB, Mr Anayo Okpala told
our correspondent that the police command was telling half truths,
stressing that the group had been using the venue for prayers and
meetings for many years now.
He said the group met to pray for the release of the IPOB Radio
Director, Mr Nnamdi Kanu when the police came and later the Army joined
them and began to shoot at them.
According to him, the prayers were held in all the states of the
South-East and South-South at the few centres hosting the prayer
meetings.
Mr Okpala said: “From yesterday to this morning, we counted 22 dead
persons and many had various degrees of injuries who had either been
shot or killed in the stampede, while many are in hospitals. Some died
at the prayer ground but some others have died in the hospitals where
they were taken to.”
He said that he was sure at the last count on Wednesday morning
that 22 members of the group comprising of MASSOB and IPOB members were
dead.
Okpala also claimed that the security agents arrested five leaders
of the group including the Abia state, Rivers State and Imo state IPOB
Coordinators and many other members
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