OUTRAGE!

Sunday, 23 August, was another tragic and cataclysmic day in Enugu, as members of Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB), a pro-Biafra organization committed to the res toration of the Republic of Biafra, and officials of the Department of State Services (DSS) had a violent and fatal clash at the community primary school, Emene, in Enugu, reportedly leaving several people dead or seriously injured, and some arrested by the police, with each side giving different accounts of the genesis of the and claiming different number of fatalities on their side.
Official account of the mayhem as given by the Enugu State Police Commissioner, Ahmed Abdulraham and echoed by the Enugu Police Public Relations Officer, ASP Daniel Ndukwe, claimed that some personnel of the Department of State Services (DSS) were on an official assignment before they were intercepted and abducted by members of IPOB. The Police Commissioner explained that it took the combined effort of the Police, Army and other security agencies to rescue one out of the two abducted DSS personnel.
In another version of their account, the police said following credible information that suspected members of IPOB numbering over 500 had abducted Operatives of the Department of State Security (DSS) and gone on rampage, blocking and burning tyres on the road, State Commissioner of Police, CP Ahmad AbdurRahman immediately deployed operatives of the Command, led by Enugu Metro Area commander who were joined by those of DSS, Army and Air Force, to rescue the adopted Operatives and restore normalcy.
According to the statement, on getting to the scene, the security operatives, came under serious gunfire attacks by the IPOB members which was responded by the operatives and in the ensuing gun duel, two of the IPOB members were gunned down, while some of them escaped with bullets wounds.
The security team successfully one of the DSS operatives, who were at the venue to disperse the IPOB members from their unlawful assembly, while two others were found lifeless at the scene and later confirmed dead while machetes, cut-to-size woods with nails affixed, phones and other items were recovered at the scene, the police said.
The police statement said five IPOB members were arrested and they confessed to being members of the proscribed IPOB, and had gone to the school to hold a meeting and be trained in martial act and self-defense skills. According to the police, before its men got to the scene, the IPOB members had macheted and gruesomely killed a young man, set another ablaze, while also attacking Police personnel resident in the area.

“This rampant killing of innocent members of IPOB will be reciprocated in due cause. IPOB members have been slaughtered and arrested in their numbers across different locations in Enugu State today Sunday 23rd August 2020. We must warn and put the whole world on notice that Nigerian Government and her security operatives should stop killing our people because we are peaceful organization with the mandate of restoring Biafra sovereignty within shortest period.” – Nnamdi Kanu

The police warned that acts of rebellion by persons and/or groups capable of truncating the peace and tranquility enjoyed in the State will not be tolerated.
However, an account from other sources claimed the bloody clash ensued when some policemen stormed an IPOB meeting at Community Secondary School, Emene and attempted to disperse the group. They were resisted by IPOB members before the encounter turned bloody.
One of the arrested IPOB members, Ebube Agu told journalists that they were having a martial art training for self defense when they were accosted by policemen but denied that they were armed as claimed by the police.
In a conflicting account, a spokesperson of IPOB, Emma Powerful, claimed that the IPOB members were holding a peaceful meeting when armed SSS operatives stormed the area shooting sporadically, killing 21 of its members contrary to two claimed by the Enugu police while 47 of their members were arrested.
“Today, the Nigerian security personnel stormed IPOB meeting ground in Enugu and started shooting sporadically which consumed lives of 21 members and 47 arrested for just no cause or provocation”, he reportedly said, claiming that the security operatives took the bodies of the slain IPOB members away.
Continuing, the IPOB spokesman was quoted as saying that “the Nigerian government and her security agencies have once again exhibited another crude round of killing and massacre against the peaceful and unarmed IPOB family members in Enugu State today 23rd of August, 2020″.We are surprised how Nigerian security agencies in their respective formations like army, police and DSS will be slaughtering our people without any provocation.
“This rampant killing of innocent members of IPOB will be reciprocated in due cause. IPOB members have been slaughtered and arrested in their numbers across different locations in Enugu State today Sunday 23rd August 2020. We must warn and put the whole world on notice that Nigerian Government and her security operatives should stop killing our people because we are peaceful organization with the mandate of restoring Biafra sovereignty within shortest period.”
“The security in the whole world must understand that keeping quiet and following the rule of law should not be construed as weakness on the part of IPOB. IPOB is a well rooted movement committed fully on the pursuit for Biafra freedom and independence from Nigeria. We are not a violent group and there is nothing they can do to change our resolve to maintain peace and order in our land.
“The efforts of the Nigeria government and her partners in crime in trying to push IPOB to change their tactics will amount to vanity. We are warning and asking Nige rian government and her security operatives to stop this atrocity immediately. Why have they refused to confront Fulani terrorists herdsmen, Boko Haram terrorists, Ansaru group, Fulani bandits, ISIS and other groups ravaging the country and busy killing innocent and unarmed citizens of IPOB?”He warned that “those responsible for this barbaric killing in Enugu today must pay for their actions against IPOB at the appropriate time.”
He debunked police claim that it lost five personnel in the clash. “It is laughable for DSS to be claiming that they lost five personnel in the hands of unarmed and peaceful people. It is clear to all that IPOB doesn’t indulge or carry arm or involve with any object. IPOB is a peaceful movement and we must remain so till Biafra is totally achieved”, he said, adding that IPOB seeks a sovereign Biafran country made up of Igbo-speaking parts of Nigeria. Its activities have been outlawed by the Nigerian government although it repeatedly says its movement is a peaceful one.
Meanwhile, Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu State who visited the scene of the clash shortly after the incident appealed to the people of the state to remain calm as normalcy has returned clash “between security agencies and a group”. The governor urged residents of the area to go about their normal business.
The incident elicited wide and varied reactions from Nigerians, with most comments roundly reproving the action of the security agents involved in the melee, which comprised the police, air force and the army.
institute Judicial Panel On Enugu Killings, Abaribe Tells Ugwuanyi
The Senate Minority Leader, Enyinnaya Abaribe, on Tuesday, condemned the alleged killings of Igbo youths in Emene, Enugu State, last Sunday, by some security operatives. He said the killings of the Igbo have given room to wide suspicion of a sinister motive.He also warned that the labelling of every Igbo group as terrorists and the incessant killings of their youths by the security operatives has become one too many and is no longer acceptable to his people.
Abaribe stated this in a statement issued in Abuja by his Media Adviser, Uchenna Awom, titled ‘Abaribe condemns Igbo youths’ killings in Enugu’.He demanded the setting up of a judicial panel of Inquiry by the Governor of Enugu State, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi.The judicial panel, according to Abaribe, would help to unravel the truth in the assertions of both the security and other groups on what really happened.
The senator noted that it was “disheartening that security operatives seem to derive pleasure at any slight whim to unleash mayhem, using the most lethal weapons against unarmed Igbo youths at every turn. “Such unsavoury, brutal and hateful resort to extreme repression, demean Nigeria’s democratic ethos and even question her unity,” he said.
Part of the statement read, “We are in a democracy where every agency of government, particularly the security apparatchik must adhere strictly to rules of engagement with regards to dealings with the civil populace in such a manner that will be in conformity with international best practices.
“The last time I checked, Nigerians still enjoy the freedom to associate freely. Nobody has told us that the Igbo youths meeting last Sunday was a gathering meant to launch an attack on anybody.
“Who will they attack and for what? What informed the police and DSS deployment to the venue of the meeting Incontrovertible reports suggest very strongly that the killings were ignited when the security operatives stormed the venue of that peaceful meeting, not that the youths marched to anywhere to attack anybody. These are the issues that should be addressed at the panel,” Abaribe said.
The Minority Leader further said it was most worrisome that the people would no longer gather peacefully in their own country without being dispersed forcefully or be branded terrorists for no just cause.

The lawmaker said he would not want to believe that the wide card labeling of every Igbo youth group as terrorists is a cover to achieve a predetermined plot.
He said, “Let it not be that we now have an army of occupation in South East, working clandestinely to create fears and state of anomie in a region that has remained perhaps the most peaceful in the country.”
He, however, advised the youths to remain calm and not to resort to any form of reprisals, or succumb to provocations that could tempt them to take laws into their own hands.
“We await the official reaction of the Enugu State governor on the matter,” he concluded.
A Nigerian Lawyer, Inibehe Effiong, has berated the Federal government over the attack on members of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), a secessionist group in Nigeria. In a reaction to the Emene deadly clash between IPOB members and security agents at Emene, on his Twitter page, Effiong observed that “for the Buhari regime, members of IPOB poses a greater threat than Boko Haram and ISWAP”, adding that “Buhari and his surrogates have shown more hatred for IPOB than the murderous herdsmen and so-called bandits” He questioned the “worth of a Nigerian life”, lamenting that “human beings have been reduced to statistics.”
“For the Buhari regime, members of IPOB poses a greater threat than Boko Haram and ISWAP. Buhari & his surrogates have shown more hatred for IPOB than the murderous herdsmen and so-called bandits. What is the worth of a Nigerian life? Human beings have been reduced to statistics.”
For the Buhari regime, members of IPOB poses a greater threat than Boko Haram and ISWAP. Buhari & his surrogates have shown more hatred for IPOB than the murderous herdsmen and so-called bandits. What is the worth of a Nigerian life? Human beings have been reduced to statistics.
Also reacting to the incident, a former Aviation Minister, Femi Fani-Kayode, condemned the Federal Government over the clash between the Department of State Service and the Indigenous People of Biafra. In his Twitter account, the former Minister called on the Federal Government to ‘negotiate’ with the group before its too late.
“I deplore & condemn the slaughter of young IPOB members in Enugu yesterday by the FG-controlled security forces. Butchering innocent & defenceless young people who were not carrying arms simply because they were having a meeting does not make sense and does not help matters. Rather, it strengthens their cause, hardens their hearts, emboldens their resolve, legitimises their struggle and wins them sympathy and new friends all over the world.
“It is also a crime against humanity and those that carry out such murderous operations or dole out such orders become automatic candidates for the ICC at the Hague.”
“Repression fuels the struggle for liberation and freedom rather than stifle it. The more IPOB youths are killed, the more their ranks will swell. I call on the Buhari administration to stop this open display of sociopathic madness and gratuitous violence against its own citizens and to be more tolerant, accommodating and restrained.” He called for a cessation of hostilities and what he called “state-sponsored violence “ and advised the Federal government to lift the ban on IPOB enter into negotiations with them before it is too late.
“We must build bridges and not burn them. We must have the courage to talk to those who we may disagree with but who genuinely feel hurt and aggrieved and bring them back to the table. We must find a more civilised and humane way to resolve our differences”, he said.
In his reaction, a former senator that represented Kaduna Central senatorial district, Shehu Sani, also condemned the use of force against members of the Indigenous People of Biafra and the Islamic Movement in Nigeria, IMN.
“No matter how much the ideas and beliefs of the members of the IMN and IPOB differ from ours, the use of state violence or support for the use of state violence to suppress their rallies or processions is unconscionable. We have terrorists that deserve the force of our arms and anger.”
Also, according to media reports, the Assistant Inspector General of Police (AIG) of the recently created zone 13 Ukpo, Anambra State, Mr. Danmallam Mohammed expressed regret over the Emene killings, describing it as unbecoming and unfortunate.
“The zone under my watch will continue to maintain peace, law and order in Anambra, Enugu and Ebonyi States. I stand for justice, human right, constitutionalism, peace and development. I say no to torture, illegal arrest and detention, intimidation, and abuse of power.
“You can’t get development in atmosphere of crisis. Northerners migrating to South East are doing that because the zone is peaceful. We should continue in making the zone peaceful,” he was reported to have said.
Media reports also indicated that a United Kingdom-based human right lawyer, Barr Paul Nwachalla has vowed to prosecute the Inspector General of Police and the security operatives involved in the recent Enugu killing of some members of the Indigenous People of Biafra in order to bring the perpetrators to book. Already a suit is being perfected for the litigation in any of the twenty-seven countries in Europe
The human rights lawyer was reported to have argued that “even though the Nigerian government claims to have outlawed IPOB, there are concluded arrangements to sue the Inspector General of Police and the Nigerian Police force under what is called extended jurisdiction over extra judicial killings. No law allows security operatives to judge any suspect and convict him as they did in Enugu hence they should stop arrogating the powers of the judiciary”, he said.
Also condemning the killings, the Association of South-East Town Unions (ASETU) said it was wrong for security operatives to open fire on unarmed civilians. In a statement by its National President and Secretary, Chief Emeka Diwe and Chief Gideon Adikwuru respectively, ASETU called on the Federal Government to set up a judicial panel to unearth the immediate and remote causes of the incident.
The statement read in part, “We are deeply worried over the gory images and videos of the bodies of unarmed civilians alleged to be members of pro-Biafra groups, reportedly shot dead by security agencies and littering the streets of Emene in Enugu State.
“It is further perplexing that despite the deafening hues and cries from our people over the killings, rape, destruction and havoc against us by Fulani herdsmen, there has never been any clash between the herdsmen and security agencies, neither have the agencies demonstrated any seriousness in tackling the problem.
“No progressive nation thrives on double standards and injustice. We reject completely the killing of Igbo people, no matter the pretext or guise under which it occurs. We, therefore, call on the Federal Government to promptly set up a judicial panel of inquiry to ascertain the causes of the massacre in Enugu, and urge both the pro-Biafra agitators and security agencies to apply restraint, civility, professionalism and respect for human lives in all their activities.”
Another group, the Nzuko Umunna, also called for a coroner inquest into the Emene killing. In a statement by its Coordinator, Ngozi Odumuko, Nzuko Umunna said it noted “with grave concern the constant killing of unarmed Igbo youths by security operatives. This is unacceptable and must stop.” The group also called on Enugu State Governor, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, to set up a judicial panel of inquiry “to unravel the immediate and remote causes of these wanton killings, including the exact number of victims, with a view to bringing the perpetrators to justice.”