IPOB

Just as the dust raised by last August 30 bloody clash between members of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB and teams of Naval and Police personnel, which resulted in the death of two IPOB members and injury to about 10 others, including a Naval personnel, members of IPOB are insisting that the attack on their members and their death would not deter them from agitating for the realisation of Biafra.
Reacting to the development, Anambra State Coordinator of the group, Ikechukwu Okoye said their main goal is to restore Biafra as a republic, adding that they are still waiting for further directives from their Directorate to determine their next line of action.
Okoye who spoke to newsmen at the St. Charles Borromeo Hospital, Onitsha when he took the visiting National Coordinator of the group, Chidiebere Onwudiwe; Secretary to the Homeland Directorate (Biafra Land), Gift Ahamefula and other national officers to the Hospital Mortuary where the bodies of their two slain members were deposited, accused officers and men of the Nigerian Navy and a police team from Fegge Division of shooting and killing their members and injuring others.
Okoye who also took the national officers to Paragon Hospital, Fegge Onitsha and Multi-care Hospital, Omagba Phase II also in Onitsha, had in response to claims that both the Navy and the police denied the shooting and the resultant deaths, said: "Let the truth prevail because I can now see that truth is very economical in this part of the world".
Peaceful procession turns bloody
Narrating what he termed as their ordeal in the hands of the naval ratings and policemen to his visiting officers, Okoye alleged that on the fateful day, their members numbering over 2,000 had converged at United Primary School, UPS, Nkpor in Idemili Northg Local Government Area, near Onitsha, Anambra State, penultimate Sunday morning for their quarterly prayer/orientation summit.
He alleged that after their prayers, they left for a peaceful procession which took them to Nkpor Junction down to Borromeo Roundabout and Zik's Inosi Onira Retreat and across the Onitsha Army Barracks upto Upper Iweka, distributing their flyers. He added that at Upper Iweka, some policemen confronted them and after explanations that they were on a peaceful procession, they allowed them to move ahead with the cops trailing them.
He alleged that on getting to Coca cola Bus-stop close to Premier Breweries Gate, a team of Naval personnel confronted them and an explanation was offered as to their mission. But the situation soon gave way to pandemonium when the Naval men allegedly opened fire, shooting into the crowd after one of them made a phone call.
He added that as they retreated to avoid being hit by bullets, the police team from Fegge Division which was trailing them, also opened fire and in addition to shooting teargas cannisters which forced the peaceful crowd to disperse with each person scampering to safety.
He also alleged that not satisfied with the shooting, the Naval men resorted to using cutlasses on the crowd, cutting at those who got in their way as if butchering animals in an abattoir. More shocking, he added, was that a pregnant woman was also brutalised, bleeding profusely after being viciously kicked. She was rushed to a nearby hospital.
Okoye further told the visitors that two of their members, namely Ebuka Nnorom from Ufuma in Orumba North Local Government Area of the state and Maduka Obasi from Ebonyi State, bled to death as a result of refusal by the medical personnel to commence medical treatment on them.
He alleged that one of them was shot on the chest, while the other was shot on the stomach and yet medical personnel at the nearby Toronto Hospital refused to give medical attention on the ground that they were forbidden from treating a victim with bullet wound unless such victim produces a written police permit.
He alleged that as a result, the two injured persons were then rushed to Borromeo Hospital whose personnel also demanded for a written police permit. When this was not provided, they too refused to commence treatment until both men bled to death and were deposited at the hospital morgue. He added that their members later went to the police and obtained a permit to treat those with minor gun shot injuries who were taken to other hospitals.
On whether they intend to launch a counter-attack against the Navy and the police, he said they were still waiting for directives from the IPOB Directorate on their next line of action.
Also speaking, one of their members who identified himself as Daniel Umenze, told the national officers that he had a harrowing experience in the hands of the Naval ratings and the police, adding that he and his wife who were at the fore front of the procession narrowly escaped death as the bullets missed them by whiskers. Apart from that, he said that some personal effects such as phones, iPAD, laptops and even fiscal cash deposited inside his car by their members for safety were allegedly carted away by the Naval and police personnel.
From his bed at Multi-care Hospital, Onitsha, Sampson Kalu, another member of the group said he was shot at the lower ankle of his right leg and the bullets pierced through the front and came out from the back side. He also informed that he is presently recuperating, while vowing to remain in the struggle just like their mentor and hero, the late Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu.
Elder brother to the late Ebuka, Anayo Nnorom, a newspaper vendor, said his late brother was once recruited into the Nigerian Army but was booted out following a disagreement with his superior officers. He added that thereafter Ebuka never had any tangible means of livelihood, hence he remained at Umunze with their father and other family members.
He said that both himself and their father who is a pastor at one of the Christian churches did not know that the late Ebuka was a member of IPOB, let alone being in Onitsha on the fateful day he lost his life.
Younger brother to the late Maduka Obasi, Abuchi who was also at the morgue, told the visitors that he was based in Enugu, while Maduka was based in Onitsha, adding that he did not equally know that his late brother was a member of IPOB until his death. He said he had informed their relations and was waiting for their next line of action.
The Director of Clinical Services, DCS at the Borromeo Hospital, Dr. Muo admitted that corpses were brought and deposited at the morgue but could not specifically know if those deposited were members of IPOB or not, since their services were extended to the general public

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