Movement for
the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) has described the
decision by the Abuja Federal High Court, presided over by Justice Binta
Nyako,
to allow witnesses testify in masks, in the trial of leader of the Indigenous
People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, as a sign that the Federal Government.
MASSOB leader,
Uchenna Madu, in a statement, yesterday,
described the lates development as judicial manipulation.
“How can a
presiding judge allow herself to be manipulated in such a bizarre manner? Kanu
and others are not terrorists who can be tried in secrecy.
“Why must the
witnesses cover their faces? These are signs of (being) jittery, frustration.
This judgment is not targeted against the people of Biafra but Nigerian
Christians in general.”
The MASSOB
leader reiterated that Kanu is unbowed and that the Biafran profile has risen
higher than the Nigerian state.
“MASSOB wishes
to inform Nyako that Kanu is among the few determined factors of current
Biafran struggle for actualisation and restoration, the more he’s being caged,
the more diplomatic relationship of Nigeria with G8 is shaken and shrinks.
“Though Kanu
represents the people of Biafra and carries the burden of the Biafra nation,
the federal government and Nyako must know that caging him is far from caging
the conscience and consciousness of the Biafra people or the self-determination
struggle. The people’s struggle is not centred around one man.
“Alhough Kanu
may seem to be the leading figure of the current Biafra struggle, Biafra is
bigger, taller and greater than leaders of pro Biafran groups.”
Meanwhile,
MASSOB and Biafran Independent Movement (BIM), yesterday, announced that five
members have been missing since November 26, 2016, during the Dim Chukwuemeka
Ojukwu memorial celebration.
MASSOB-BIM
leader for Anambra North Zone, Pastor Emmanuel Omenka, who spoke through the
Director of Information, Charles Igbokwe, also raised the alarm over what they
described as “a sinister plot by the Nigerian Army from the 302 Artillery
Regiment, Onitsha, to wipe out all our members.”
The group
queried “why soldiers have been haunting members for no just cause while they
have continued to push for their self
determination struggle in a non-violent manner…”
Giving a
graphic account of their ordeal, the group alleged that, “soldiers from 302
Artillery take delight in tormenting us. They shoot our members and cover some
of them with tarpaulin inside the barracks.
In 2013, during our 15th year celebration, they ambushed us at St.
Lwanga Catholic Church, Okpoko.
“It was the
same thing in 2015, during our anniversary. The most recent happened on
November 26, on our way to Owerri, Imo State, for the Ojukwu memorial.
“They hijacked
our bus, offloaded all members on board and later took away five people among
us and till today, we have not set our eyes on them again. We are afraid that
they might have been wasted them.”
But the Deputy
Director, Army Public Relations, 82 Division, Enugu, Col. Sagir Musa said there
was no truth in the allegations by the
pro-Biafra group who he said
delights in sensationalism.
He said
rather, arrests were made along Onitsha Owerri Road by 302 Artillery Regiment
Patrol team on Sunday December 4, not on November 26 as alleged by the group.
sunnews
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