MASSOB: Pro-Biafra protset turns Bloody in Aba, Abia State
The Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) and the Independent People of Biafra (IPOB) yesterday resumed the protest against the continued detention of their leader, Nnamdi Kanu, The Nation report.
The protest which was announced on friday, turned bloody in Aba, Abia State, when protesters clashed with security men.
Unconfirmed reports said about 30 protesters sustained gunshot wounds and seven died. A man hit by a stray bullet died at the hospital.
A 20-year-old apprentice, Chidozie Okafor, the only son of his parents and a native of Omuohu, in Eziagu council of Enugu State, was hit by a stray bullet while returning from his lunch break. He died immediately.
Our reporter who monitored the protest reports that the fracas halted commercial activities as businesses were forced to close.
It was gathered that the protesters, after they were dispersed by security men from the National High School on Port Harcourt road, regrouped around Asa and Park road. Attempts to disperse them were resisted.
Eyewitnesses said soldiers started shooting sporadically when they realised they were being overpowered and in the process, some protesters were hit while others were arrested.
Checks within the Aba metropolis showed that security was tightened around military formations and police barracks.
In a telephone chat with MASSOB’s National Welfare Officer, Mr. Jude Chukwu, he condemned the killings, allegging that about five members of the group were reported dead while 30 others were receiving treatment in undisclosed hospitals.
Chukwu, who blamed the police and soldiers for the deaths, claimed that the protest was peaceful until the security men started to shoot at unarmed citizens.
He debunked insinuations that the pro-Biafra groups worked for the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) governorship candidate, Dr. Alex Otti, stressing that their protest was part of their push for Nnamdi Kanu’s release.
The police command, through its spokesman Ezekiel Onyeke Udeviotu warned that the ban on street protests and any form of procession was still in place. It directed its men and officers to resist any attempt by any group to march on the streets.
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