The Nigerian Army has justified why it resorted to the Rule of Engagement (force) in containing members of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) as well as the Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) during Monday protests.
It admitted that five pro-Biafran agitators were killed in the process while eight others were wounded. But, both MASSOB and IPOB yesterday stated that the military killed over 40 of their members.
The Army, in a statement by the Deputy Director, Army Public Relations of the 82, Division in Enugu, Col. H. A. Gambo, said that the pro-Biafra agitators became violent and attacked security agents at a school location on Ataa Road near Saint Edmunds’ Catholic Parish, Maryland, Nkpor-Agu in Anambra State, during the protest. It said that as the lead agency of other security agencies, it was its constitutional mandate to act promptly, to contain what appeared like an insurrection.
The Army said: “The nature of this attack involved brazen employment of various types of firearms and all sorts of crude weapons, volatile cocktail such as acid and dynamites. “Instructively troops of 82 Division Nigerian Army, as the lead agency of the security agencies, had to invoke the extant Rules of Engagement (ROE) to resort to self-defence, protection of the strategic Niger Bridge, prevents reenforcement of the pro-Biafran members apparently surging ahead from the far side of the strategic Niger Bridge at Onitsha.
All these efforts were in order to de-escalate the palpable tension, as well as ward off the apparent threats to lives and property in the general area. “In the aftermath of the firefight that ensued, many of our troops sustained varying degrees of injury.
These injured troops are currently receiving treatment at our medical centre. Similarly, five members of MASSOB/IPOB were killed, eight wounded while nine were arrested for due legal actions.”
The clashes broke out following plans by the two separatist groups to organise the 49th anniversary of the declaration of the sovereign State of Biafra in 1967 by the late Col. Chukwuemeka Odumegwu- Ojukwu.
The protests, which were embarked upon si-multaneously by the two separatist groups in Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu, Imo and Delta states, turned violent, as the agitators clashed with soldiers and policemen attempting to stop them. In the ensuing melee, many people were killed while about 400 members of the separatist groups were arrested.
In Delta, two policemen lost their lives during the protest. One was stabbed to death while one got drowned after being thrown into River Niger by pro-Biafran agitators.
The army further justified its intervention. It said: “Due to the widespread panic, tension and apprehension that generated from the activities of the MASSOB and IPOB members, security agencies, which comprised of detachment of Nigerian Navy, Nigeria Police, Department of State Services (DSS) and the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency were compelled to intervene in consonance with constitutional provisions of aid to civil authority where and when such occasion demands. The over arching imperative to ensure a reign of peace, security and stability in this circumstance was most starring.”
The army, however, reassured “all of its professional commitment to the protection of lives and property of the good people of Anambra State and, indeed, across its entire Area of Responsibility in tandem with the recent directive of the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria through the Chief of Defence Staff to the Chief of Army Staff to avert occurrences of such unwarranted and uncivilised attacks against the good and law abiding people of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”
However, Deputy President of the Senate, Ike Ekwerenmadu, yesterday cautioned security agencies on their handling of disturbances in the country to avoid unnecessary loss of lives.
Ekweremadu, who gave the caution while briefing the Senate on the reported military invasion of some parts of the South-East on Monday and the resultant casualties on the innocent citizens, said that it was not proper that security agencies should brutally attack civilians, who were making peaceful protest within the specifications of the law.
Speaking after he raised Order 43 of the Senate Standing Orders 2015 (as amended), Ekweremadu said that the country had witnessed a lot of unnecessary killings arising from people’s clashes with security agencies in different parts of the country. He, therefore, urged the Senate to condemn killings by security agencies in the country, particularly the ones involving the youth, which he said are the hope of the country in future.
He said that the protest by members of MASSOB, which led to a bloody clash in Delta and Anambra states, could have been handled differently. The lawmaker noted that Nigeria is now a democratic nation, and that people should be allowed to speak out on issues bothering them under responsible circumstances.
Meanwhile, the Inspector- General of Police (IGP), Mr. Solomon Arase, has ordered zonal Assistant Inspectors- General of Police (AIGs) and Commissioners of Police (CPs) in South- East and South-South states, to disarm members of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) bearing arms.
The IGP’s directive followed Monday’s clashes between members of the IPOB and the Police in Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu, Imo and Delta states, which resulted in the death of many, and arrest of about 400 protesters.
The IPOB and MASSOB are separatist groups agitating for the State of Biafra. In a statement by the Force Public Relations Officer (FPRO), Mrs. Olabisi Kolawole, an Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP), the Police said the IPOB members had crossed the “threshold”, with the attack on some policemen.
The statement also noted that those that were arrested during the protests would be prosecuted in accordance with the law. “Following the manifestation of the disposition of the armed IPOB activists to undertake premeditated attacks on police officers engaged in operations aimed at restoring public order in states in the South-East and South-South geopolitical zones of the country, the Inspector-General of Police has directed the Assistant Inspectors-General of Police and the Commissioners of Police in the affected areas to disarm members of the group operating firearms immediately.
“The IGP noted that the targeted attacks on police personnel, who have been performing their statutory functions in the most professional and civil manner since the latest resurgence disorder, portrays the IPOB activists who are orchestrating the insurrection as having crossed the threshold in their misguided attempt to test the common will of the nation,” Kolawole said.
While condemning the killing by members of IPOB, Arase also directed the arrest of any member of the group found in possession of firearms and saying that they should be brought to deserved justice. “All IPOB activists arrested in connection with the killing of the policemen should be charged to court for murder,” the statement said.
In the face of this, however, the police have pledged “to continue to diligently work towards eliminating any threat to internal security and assure Nigerians of its commitment to their safety and security.”
