Members of the Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign
State of Biafra, MASSOB on Friday gave the Nigeria police and other security
agencies a four-day ultimatum to release over 11 of its members who were
recently arrested and shot in Onitsha.
Addressing journalists in the commercial city of Onitsha, the
MASSOB administrator for Awka North region, Mr. Tony Nwodo said the movement
has given the police just four days to release all its members arrested or
charge them to court.
He further called for the immediate release of the corpse of one
Chimezie allegedly shot dead by a joint team of army and police at Nkwelle
Ezunanka recently during a shoot-out, adding that after the expiration of the
ultimatum, the movement may explore alternative avenue to seek justice.
Mr. Nwodo also accused the police of torturing MASSOB members
while raising the alarm over the whereabouts of over five members of the body,
adding: “We are still searching for five of our members who got missing
after the police shot one of us”
He gave the names of the detainees as Ifeanyi Pota, Ifeanyi
Agbom, Kelechi Nkwuta, Emeka Martin, Chibuike Okafor, Osita Anene and Chimezie
who was shot dead during the operation. He also said John Okechukwu, Chidubem
Sunday, Okafor Ede, Emeka Nwani and Greg Chimezie are still missing.
The regional administrator further challenged the police and
other law enforcement agencies to charge their members to court if they were
found to have committed any crime, adding that they would be forced to go to
court to seek redress over the alleged killing of their member.
“The police should release our members within these four days we
have graciously given to them. Our members are not criminals and MASSOB has
stood tall in maintaining law and order in the state and Igbo land in general”,
he said.
He wondered why police and other security agencies could be
hunting for MASSOB members, maiming and killing them without any justification.
“We have taken our case to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) at The
Hague to look into the inhuman treatment we are facing in Nigeria” he said.
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