Business activities came to an abrupt end yesterday afternoon in Onitsha while vehicular movements ground to a halt as members of Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) continued protest over the detention of Nnamdi Kanu.

The coordinated protests, which took off from different parts of Anambra State, took residents of Onitsha and traders by surprise when  members poured into major roads in their numbers.

Some  members took off from the Onitsha–Uli–Owerri Road while others came towards the Ogbunike end of the Onitsha –Enugu Expressway before converging at the Asaba end of the Onitsha Bridge Head causing heavy traffic.

The protesters chanted songs of freedom with the slogan –“No Biafra, no peace.”

Speaking to newsmen, National Coordinator of IPOB, Chidiebere Onwudiwe, who was flanked by IPOB’s spokesman, Emma Powerful said, “the protest was as a result of the detention of Kanu and the continued marginalisation of the South East and South South geo-political zones by the Federal Government.

“The protests will continue today in Onitsha and the soldiers, who are asking us to disperse are being funny because we are non-violent and cannot be intimidated.”

…Protest turns bloody in Nnewi 

Protest by the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) for the release of Nnamdi Kanu yesterday became bloody at Nnobi, near Nnewi in Idemili South local government area of Anambra State.

Trouble started when protesters went to enforce an earlier stay- at -home order  and ran into a group of young men, who were hanging out at a drinking joint along Nnobi-Nnewi Road. The youths, according to Daily Sun source, were said to have opposed an order to close the joint by the protesters, which eventually led to a free-for-all.  In the ensuing melee,  a young man, who was said to have come into the country just a week ago to take care of his sick mother, died.

“You have seen what these people who are nothing but miscreants have done to our brother. Is it a crime for him to come back to Nigeria to see his mother? Now, they have killed him on the pretence of fighting for Biafra. If they are really sincere, why are they violent about it? Do they expect us to run away from our homes for them to actualise their dreams?” a friend of the deceased asked rhetorically.

Meanwhile, the three days market closure ordered by IPOB witnessed total compliance in the industrial city of Nnewi. Traders, who had earlier partially opened their shops as early as 7.30a.m., hoping that the order would not hold, were forced to close them by IPOB members who monitored the compliance while motorcycles shuttled between Onitsha and Nnewi.

When CEOAfrica source went round Nkwo Nnewi markets, traders in all sections of the markets were seen discussing in groups in front of closed shops. Street traders were not left out as they were ordered to close shop. They complied for fear of being attacked. In a related development,  implementation of the 2014 National Conference resolutions has been described as the panacea to the current agitation for Biafra by the Igbo .

Youth wing of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, the apex socio-cultural organisation of the Igbo, which made the assertion yesterday, said the resolution of the national confab  has all it takes to peacefully resolve the agitation for Biafra and other agitations in the country.

They called on President Muhammadu Buhari to implement the said confab resolutions as that would be “the starting point for the coexistence of Nigeria.”

Markets, banks, shops, schools closed in Aba

The commercial city of Aba, Abia State was yesterday locked down as over 500, 000 Biafra agitators protested along the streets of the city in solidarity with the director of Radio Biafra and leader of Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), who appeared in court in Abuja.

 Prior to yesterday’s protest, some members of IPOB were said to have gone round some markets in the city and announced that shops in Aba should be shut.

As early as 6.00a.m, the protesters, some of who came from Rivers, Bayelsa, Imo and Anambra states, joined their colleagues in Aba and gathered at the  National High School on the outskirts of the city from where they marched to  the city centre, chanting war songs. By the time the protesters got to the city centre, policemen on duty, particularly those controlling traffic, fled their duty posts, while leaders of the pro-Biafra group took over the duty of traffic control.

All the markets and shops including commercial banks in the city were closed. This is even as some private schools sent back their pupils who had gone to school in the morning citing the announcement made by IPOB members the previous day. The protesters, who stretched about five kilometres, caused gridlock along the route as motorists were forced to use alternative routes. It was hectic entering or leaving Aba when the agitators moved towards Aba/Owerri Road, which was the only route to access the city.

A special group said to be Biafran soldiers marched in fours at the rear, wearing black attire and singing war songs. A man in the front row carried a symbolic small pot while others bore the Biafra flag and emblem.

As the protesters marched along, residents, who trooped out in their numbers, lined the routes to cheer them, saying it was time Biafra was free. One of the protesters, a 65-year-old man, who told Daily Sun he was a pastor, said the actualisation of Biafra was revealed to him in a dream and that he would not relent until Biafra was realised.           

Another man said the protest would continue as far as the Federal Government refuses to release Nnamdi Kanu, stating that there would be another protest on the next adjourned date of his trial.

 Five Toyota Hillux vans loaded with policemen, led by the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) for Eziama station and three army vans later arrived but the officers  followed the protesters from a distance.

 Meanwhile, Nnamdi Kanu’s younger sister, Prince Chinwe Kanu has lambasted the police in Abuja for allegedly manhandling and arresting some members of the group, who went to the nation’s capital to attend the botched hearing of their leader’s case.

 Princess Chinwe who spoke to our correspondent on phone said after the court could not sit due to the absence of the Magistrate, some members of the pro Biafra group were marching to the British High Commission to register their displeasure over Britain’s silence on Nnmadi Kanu’s matter when the police tear-gassed, wounded and arrested some of them.

 She said as if that was not enough, that the police went to a motor park in the capital city, tear-gassed some of the IPOB members who were already inside buses that would take them back to the East and also arrested some of them.

 Describing the police action of arresting defenceless civilians as barbaric, Princess Kanu said that would not kill the spirit of Biafra in the people.

 She commended protesters who locked Aba and Onitsha for solidly being behind her brother in his trying times assuring them their sacrifice will not be in vain.   

Ohanaeze youths spit fire

…Support agitation for Biafra

A group, the Ohanaeze Youths, has lent its total support for agitation for the realisation of the sovereign state of Biafra.

Addressing newsmen yesterday in Awka, the group, led by its Deputy National Chairman, Mr. Arthur Obiorah, said the youths were wholly in support of agitation for Biafra movement, especially when the demonstrators were not violent. 

Obiorah, flanked by four other executive members of the  group, demanded the immediate and unconditional release of Nnamdi Kanu, Ben Onwuka and other pro-Biafran agitators now in detention.

He warned that “any further attempt to harass and intimidate Igbo agitators would result in untold reactions from Igbo youths who have been watching developments with great concern.”

The Ohanaeze Ndigbo youth wing also called on President Muhammadu Buhari to implement resolutions of the 2014 National Conference which it considers  a starting point for the continuous coexistence of Nigeria.

Obiorah also condemned the alleged killings, maiming and detention of non-violent Biafra agitators.

He said: “The Federal Government should, instead of carrying out anti-social war on the peace loving Biafra agitators, make conscientious study on why the Igbo youths and Easterners are spoiling for the restoration of the nation of Biafra.

“President Buhari should commence a no-hold-barred negotiation that may see all the Nigerian nationalities meeting and dialoguing on how to come out of the present political impasse.

Mr. Obiorah criticised some Igbo elders allegedly working against the pro-Biafra agitators.

He said such people were not representing the Igbo nation, but their own selfish interests, and advised South-East region to unite and speak with one voice in the interest of the people.

He said: “We are committed to peace, justice, equity and fairness and we call on Igbo and Nigerians to embrace same for our general good.”

Source : The Sun