South East not
conquered territory –MASSOB
From Emmanuel Uzor,
Abakaliki and Aloysius Attah, Onitsha
Human and
pro-democracy activists have faulted the blockade of the Niger Bridge by the
Nigerian Army.
The ‘Operation
Python Dance’ was recently launched by
the army in the South East to provide security in the zone.
Chairman of
International Society for Civil Liberties and the Rule of Law
(Intersociety), Emeka Umeagbalasi, described it as a declaration of Jihad
against the zone.
He urged the Federal
Government and the Army authorities to immediately dismantle the road blocks.
According to him,
the army’s internal security should not translate to psychological war against
a particular ethnic group, especially at a period it is known they return home
to celebrate Yuletide
“The army’s
occupation tagged ‘Operation Python’ is
nothing but a plot to subject the entire South East to untold hardship,
torture and extortion,’’ he alleged.
He said with several
massacres the Fulani herdsmen had perpetrated in the country, especially in
Southern Kaduna, the Federal Government and the Army have not set up operation
to checkmate their excesses.
The activist noted
that the road blocks already created by the soldiers on major roads in the
South East were already creating hardship for the people even before the
Yuletide.
He noted that
gridlock which already had brought untold suffering and waste of several man
hours already emerged on the Onitsha
Bridge in particular, where the Nigerian Army had increased road blocks as well
as at Asaba and Onitsha which is
affecting the economy of the zone.
Umeagbalasi said the
South East-based coalition of rights group will come out with comprehensive
statement on the matter.
The Civil Liberties
Organisation (CLO), on its part described the blocking of the major entrance to
the South East in the name of special operation as provocation, particularly
when those allegedly murdered by the soldiers in the wake of peaceful
demonstrations by pro-Biafra groups have not been accounted for.
Meanwhile, the
Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra
(MASSOB), has insisted that Biafra is not a conquered territory even as
they condemned the Operation Python Dance.
Rising from an
executive meeting in Okwe, Imo State, MASSOB leader, Uchenna Madu said the
Operation Python Dance was another dimension of the war by Buhari-led
Administration against Ndigbo.
“It also amounts to
political declaration of state of emergency in South East states. That army headquarters with their ulterior
negative motives started this annihilating operation on November 27 without
public enlightenment and orientation to maim the people of Biafra,” he added.
It further disclosed
that Christmas season is a period of Igbo gathering with much concentration in Igboland, adding,
“for the military, it’s a fertile land and opportunity to create tension among
our people which they think will derail the love, confidence and consciousness
of Biafra.”
the Indigenous
People of Biafra (IPOB) has appealed to its members and Biafrans to accept
whatever may be the outcome of today’s
court ruling on the bail application of its leader, Nnamdi Kanu to avoid
unnecessary killing of unarmed civilians by security agents.
The group alleged
that it was not expecting any thing good from the court because the president
had ordered the judiciary not to release its leader, Kanu during his broadcast
on December 30, 2015.
A statement by the
Media and Publicity Secretary of IPOB, Emma Powerful yesterday, alleged that
already, the judge has been told what to do and urged every member and Biafrans
to remain calm on the ruling whether for or against its leader.
“Everybody should
stay quiet today to avoid unnecessary killing of unarmed civilians who came to
celebrate, therefore, no celebration of any kind. We are not expecting any
thing good from Nigeria court because Buhari, the president of Nigeria had
ordered the judiciary not to release Nnamdi Kanu during his broadcast in December
30, 2015
In a related
development, human rights lawyer, Femi Falana, SAN, has called on President
Muhammadu Buhari to “set up a panel of inquiry to investigate the killing of
MASSOB/IPOB members as well as scores of Shiites by the army and the police, in
view of the admission of the Nigerian Army that it killed 5 protesters instead
of the 150 alleged by Amnesty International.”
Falana said this at
the 2016 Law Week of the Jos branch of the Nigerian Bar association, at Hill
Station Hotel, Jos where he presented a paper titled: War Against
Corruption-Issues and Challenges Confronting the Judiciary.
The paper read in
part: “Last week, the Amnesty International released a damning report on the
brutal killing of 150 members of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) by the
Nigerian Army. Unsurprisingly, the army has denied the report. In joining
issues with the human rights group, the Nigerian Army must have forgotten that
it had issued a statement on May 31 this year wherein it had “in the aftermath
of the fire fight that ensued, many of own troops sustained varying degrees of
injury. These injured troops are currently receiving treatment at own medical
centre.
“That this is an
extension of Buhari-led administration forceful islamisation of Igboland
through military fears and religious intimidation. This operation is also
designed to demoralise the people of Biafra from returning home for Christmas
celebration as the military operation is beyond Igbo leaders including
governors and National Assembly members.”
SUNNEWSONLINE
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