- IPOB, MASSOB agitations cries of anguish from Igbo soul —ABC Nwosu
By Festus Ahon, Johnbosco Agbakwuru & Chimaobi Nwaiwu,
The Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, yesterday, alleged that soldiers from Asaba at about 5.30 pm invaded the venue of the meeting of their members at Okwe Primary School, Oshimili North Local Government Area of Delta State and opened fire on their members, killing five people and injuring over 20.
This came as former Minister of Health, Prof. Alphonsus Nwosu, described the agitations by the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, and the Movement for the Actualisation of Sovereign State of Biafra, MASSOB, as cries of anguish from Igbo soul over injustice against Ndigbo.
IPOB in a statement by its Media and Publicity Secretary, Mr Emma Powerful, said some Hausa-Fulani people living in Okwe had informed their brothers in the Army that IPOB members were having a meeting in Okwe Primary School and the military officials quickly invaded the place and opened fire on them without interrogating anybody.
“This is another senseless massacre of our members. Does it mean that we do not have freedom to meet and interact with our members? Will the military say we were demonstrating? Did anybody complain that the IPOB members having the meeting were disturbing the peace of the public?
“Organizations and community unions have meetings on Sundays.Why will IPOB members having a meeting in a public school be shot? If it is a secret meeting that is aimed at achieving an evil plan, it would have been in a secret place, not in an open compound like a primary school.
“We will never accept that. We must know who the Hausa-Fulani people that gave the information to their military brothers are and who they are working for and what is their motive for giving such information. They must tell us how many times they have been shot by the military while they were having their meetings.
“This is another senseless military massacre that we will not accept. We must never take that. Somebody must pay for this. We will never allow this one go unpunished. We have taken too much of these military senseless massacres.
“We will know if it is only the Hausa-Fulani that are in Nigeria and whether they are the only people that will live in this country. We will know whether they are the only people that will live, meet and move freely in Nigeria. We will see to the end of this idiotic massacre. This country does not belong to Hausa-Fulani people only.
“It is time they pay with their own blood, we have warned that nobody should provoke us to carry arms but it seems the time is ripe for that now . We must defend ourselves.”
Contacted, the Police Public Relations Officer, PPRO, attached to the Delta State Police Command, Mr Andrew Aniamaka, said there was an altercation between some soldiers and Biafra militants, who tried to dispossess a soldier of his rifle at Okwe Central Primary School.
Aniamaka said one of the Biafra militants was killed during an exchange of fire with the soldiers who came to rescue their colleague.
Cries of anguish from Igbo souls
Prof. ABC Nwosu, who served in the former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s administration, also said the All Progressives Congress, APC, government has shown high level of hatred for the people of South-East, adding that the Igbo soul will continue to rebel against injustice.
Speaking exclusively to Vanguard in Abuja, weekend, Nwosu further said the response of the Nigerian security forces against the IPOB during the solidarity rally for the inauguration of the American President, Donald Trump, in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, was a clear illustration of injustice to the people.
According to him, “I have said it so many times that the agitation of MASSOB, IPOB, Lower Niger Congress and Bilie et centra has been very misunderstood by Nigeria and Nigerians.
“I regard these agitations as cries of anguish from the Igbo soul about the gross injustice of the Nigeria state, especially towards Ndigbo. The Igbo soul rebels and continues to rebel against injustice.
“These cries of anguish are best solved through dialogue and it is important for the Nigerian government to understand this.
“The response of Nigerian security forces against the IPOB rally in Port Harcourt speaks or rather illustrates the injustice very clearly to Igbo protests. During the period, I saw front pages of newspapers showing Shiite Muslims wrestling policemen to the ground, but non violent IPOB protesters had to be shot. I don’t want to say more.”
He further decried the action of the Federal Government over the killing of Igbo woman, Bridget Agbalume, especially the position of the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, on the matter.
He said: “The recent situation where a citizen of Nigeria, over 70 years of age, Mrs. Bridget Agbalume, was brutally killed in front of the husband and an Attorney General entered a noli proceci is not the Nigeria of Igbo dreams.
http://www.vanguardngr.com/2017/02/soldiers-invaded-our-meeting-killed-5-injured-20-ipob/
