Tension
is high in Anambra State as persons suspected to be members of the Movement for
the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra, MASSOB, mounted road blocks
and set bonfire in Nkpor and Onitsha causing the roads to be deserted.
According
to Anambra State Commissioner of Police, Mr Hassan Karma, the suspected members
of MASSOB gathered at a school in Nkpor with identifying flags emblazoned with
the rising sun symbols and charms but with mission unknown.
He
said that the Joint Security Operation, on moving in to ascertain their
mission, the group opened fire on them but the situation was later brought
under control as the group fled and two people were arrested among them.
The
Commissioner disclosed that those arrested were not from the state and warned
all and sundry who felt they could hide under any guise to foment trouble in
the state to desist as it would not be tolerated.
While
assuring the people of Anambra state to remain calm as proactive measures were
on cause to bring the situation under control, he advised that all residents
should embrace peace and not infringe on other people’s freedom while agitating
for their own freedom.
However,
an eyewitness who spoke off camera said that it was the security agencies that
first disrupted the peaceful protest of the group at Nkpor when they were
marching to commemorate the one year in memoriam of the victims of the struggle
for freedom.
Fracas
In Asaba
Also,
in Asaba, the Delta State capital, several people were injured as a planned
protest by members of the Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State
of Biafra (MASSOB) degenerated into a fight.
The
MASSOB members had planned peaceful protests across south eastern states to
mark 49 years of the agitation for Biafra Republic (1967 to 2016), on Monday.
The
fight reportedly broke out when Police tried to disperse the protesters by
firing teargas at them.
This
action infuriated the protesters who allegedly reacted angrily and this
degenerated into a larger fracas.
According
to eyewitnesses, those injured in the fracas, including policemen, were taken
to the Federal Medical Centre, Asaba for treatment.
Arrests
in Owerri
Meanwhile,
the Imo State Police Command has arrested over 20 members of MASSOB for what
they termed disturbance of public peace.
While
parading the members of the group at the command headquarters in Owerri, the
command’s Public Relations Officer, Andrew Enwerem, said that the group were
rounded up around Tetlow Street by Okigwe road at about 11AM where they were
said to be gathering to storm the city metropolis.
Mr
Enwerem said that the action by the group was unacceptable and a disturbance of
public peace that is capable of causing breakdown of law and order in the
state.
He
said that the Imo State Police Commissioner, Taiwo Lakanu, would not condone
any act of terrorism, thuggery or unholy association that is capable causing
breakdown of law and order in the state as all such acts would be treated as a
high criminal offense.
Source: Channels
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