SEVERAL members of pro-Biafra groups were arrested across the South-East on Monday as they staged church services and protests to mark the 49th anniversary of the declaration of the defunct Biafra Republic.



While 53 were arrested in Enugu, 17 were reportedly nabbed in Imo, Delta made away with 8, Ebonyi reportedly arrested 320 members of the groups alongside clergy men.

In Delta, seven persons were confirmed dead while Anambra recorded twenty dead bodies with many sustaining innjuries.



ENUGU STATE

In Enugu, the State Police spokesman, Ebere Amaraizu, told the News Agency of Nigeria that 13 suspects were arrested on Obiagu Road in the Coal City, while commemorating “Biafran fallen heroes and heroines of the 1967 -1970 civil war”.

Amaraizu said they were apprehended with flags of Biafra.

Similar scenario played out at Nsukka as the zonal leader of MASSOB in Enugu North, Chief James Omeke, told MEZIE TIMES  that the police have arrested 40 of her members at St. Theresa’s cathedral, Nsukka Monday while attending a special thanksgiving mass service in commemoration of 49th anniversary of the declaration of the defunct Biafran Republic by the late warlord Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu.

He said “it was surprising that police ambushed the catholice catheral and quietly sneaked into the church and arrested the members in their solemn moment of the special thanksgiving mass for the republic declaration 49th anniversary.”

IMO STATE

The police in Owerri, Imo State on Monday arrested some 17 members of the Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra for holding a road show in commemoration of 49th anniversary of Biafra.

The Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Andrew Enwerem, who confirmed the arrests, said those arrested would be prosecuted.

The MASSOB members began the march at Waterside Primary School, Owerri, from where they moved to Rotibi Street to Oguamana Street before linking Douglas Road.

At Douglas Road, the marchers met heavily armed security men, who threw teargas at them at Ama JK end of the street and arrested some.

Okechukwu Nwogu, a leader of MASSOB, said it was regrettable that the police arrested members of the group who were on a peaceful march to commemorate the 49th anniversary of Biafra and 17th anniversary of MASSOB.

Nwogu said: “What Nigeria government is doing to us is very unfair; MASSOB is a non-violent group moving without arms in remembrance of our history.

“Nwogu called on Igbo leaders to come out and speak for Igbo people being unjustly treated by security forces.”

Earlier Chief Canice Anojuru, the spokesman for MASSOB in Owerri zone, said the group decided to hold the road show to awaken the consciousness of the people of the defunct Biafra.

Anojuru said the road show was to draw the attention of international community to the plight of Biafra people.

He added that the group had achieved a lot despite obvious challenges.

On the recent invasion of Nimbo community in Enugu State by suspected Fulani herdsmen, the group advised the people of the South East to be more vigilant to forestall future attacks in the area.

Anojoru said: “As a group, we frown at the rate at which human beings were killed and maimed, farmlands destroyed, women raped and buildings razed by these Fulani herdsmen.

“We are calling on all people of South East area to be more vigilant and extra careful over this recent development.”

The group advised people of the area to be careful in engaging people whose identity were not clear to them as security men, gardeners and house-keepers.

DELTA STATE

The Acting Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), in Delta, Charles Muka, in a statement said seven persons have been confirmed dead, adding that the police recorded two casualties.

He said in the statement that five members of MASSOB were killed by military officers who had confrontations with the group along the Asaba-Onitsha Expressway in Asaba.

It stated that the military arrested and brought eight members of MASOB to the police and “are now in custody in Asaba.’’

According to him, the protesters turned violent and attacked the policemen deployed to monitor the protest, killed two and injured two others.

“We had to deploy our officers to ensure that the protest was peaceful but we were surprised that the people turned violent.

“To our surprise, they started attacking our men and at Okwe Junction in Abraka area of Asaba, the group killed a police corporal and took his AK47 riffle.

“Also along the Dennis Osadeby Way in Asaba, they wounded a police officer and took his anti-riot gun.

“This group also attacked and wounded two policemen, suspected to be marine police, and threw them into the River Niger at Cable Point in Asaba and in the process one died and one was rescued.

“This brings the casualty number to two with two others injured on the side of the police.

“The protesters also attacked military vehicles along the Asaba-Onitsha Expressway which left four members of the group dead and eight others arrested and brought to the police headquarters.”

It added that a pregnant woman was hit by a stray bullet during the fracas but now receiving treatment at the Federal Medical Centre, Asaba.

EBONYI STATE

The Zonal Leader of MASSOB in charge of Ebonyi North, John Nwifuru, flanked by a member of the Elders-In-Council in charge of Ebonyi anniversary, Moses Eze, confirmed at a briefing in Abakaliki
that Police in Ebonyi State on Monday arrested some clergymen who were conducting an inter-denominational service for members of the Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB).

According to him “over 320 members of the MASSOB were also arrested by the Command during the Biafra Day celebration”.

It was also gathered that the command also teargassed the protesters ceaselessly during the operation.

“Some of those arrested were just clergymen who we invited to conduct inter-denominational church service as part of activities marking the celebration”. These policemen don’t seem to have respect for God, why would they arrest his anointed men?”

He accused the Police of carting away valuables belonging to members of the movement which he said included vehicles, over 93 motorcycles and other items for offertory.

He said, “We were at Nkaliki primary school field observing interdenominational church service when policemen numbering over 200 operating in over 40 hilux vans stormed the area shooting sporadically in the air before they threw tear gas canister on us before arresting our clergymen who were conducting church service.

They carried plantains, bananas, and other consumables which members brought as their offering during the church service.”

ANAMBRA STATE

Anambra State was not left out as there were claims that the Nigerian security agents were battling with pro-Biafra agitators in some parts of Anambra state, especially Onitsha.

The signal which was sent to several unit commanders in the Southeastern parts of Nigeria early this morning asked the unit commanders to be on “standby’ in case of a breakdown of law and order as pro-Biafra agitators embark on street protests today in the state.

Speculation has it that about 20 people are currently dead and many injured.

Some sources reveal that soldiers invaded a Catholic Church in Nkpor, near Onitsha, Anambra state.

The invasion was said to have taken place early this morning, May 30, as people were participating in Mass.

It was on this day in 1967 that the late General Ojukwu declared the Republic of Biafra, after suffering through years of suppression under Nigeria’s military government.

In 1960, Nigeria gained independence from Britain. Six years later, the Muslim Hausas in northern Nigeria began massacring the Christian Igbos in the region, prompting tens of thousands of Igbos to flee to the east, where their people were the dominant ethnic group.

The Igbos doubted that Nigeria’s oppressive military government would allow them to develop, or even survive, so on May 30, 1967, Lieutenant Colonel Odumegwu Ojukwu and other non-Igbo representatives of the area established the Republic of Biafra, comprising several states of Nigeria.

After diplomatic efforts by Nigeria failed to reunite the country, war between Nigeria and Biafra broke out in July 1967.

Ojukwu’s forces made some initial advances, but Nigeria’s superior military strength gradually reduced Biafran territory.

The state lost its oil fields–its main source of revenue–and without the funds to import food, an estimated one million of its civilians died as a result of severe malnutrition.

On January 11, 1970, Nigerian forces captured the provincial capital of Owerri, one of the last Biafran strongholds, and Ojukwu was forced to flee to the Ivory Coast. Four days later, Biafra surrendered to Nigeria.


http://.com/398-arrested-28-dead-others-injured-as-pro-biafra-groups-celebrate-49th-anniversary/

Lalasticlala

Casualties of the struggle....I wish it's worth it. For ultimately, ''it is appointed for a man to die, and after that, judgement....'' Don't waste your life!

and in the end, bi....................a....................................f..........................................r................................................a shall come

Only they can rationalise the loss of 28 lives. But how come this was not done between 2010 and 2014. There was more likelihood of success then.on another note,

1960 then the writer jumped to 1967.

What happened in 1963?
What about 1964?
Or 1966?
The writer willfully ignored those parts of Nigerian history.

What happened to human rights in this country

Throughout World history, persecutions and killings have never quenched a just cause. An example is the persecutions of early christians and the aftermath; which is the spread of christianity to the ends of the world and the christian religion becoming the world's strongest and most populous religion. Catholics alone made up of 2 billion world population.


You cannot stop a just cause with killings and persecutions, the more you kill , the more spiritual and celestial forces become stronger to deal with you.

R.I.P to the dead.
Speedy recovery to the wounded.
Prompt release of the detained


The blood of the peaceful protesters is the seed of Biafra.

If the blood of the dead is the seed of Biafra






Then you are sitting on a looong thing