MASSOB’s 17th Anniversary: Police Nab 18 Pro-Biafra Agitators in Anambra and Abia

MASSOB’s 17th Anniversary: Police Nab 18 Pro-Biafra Agitators in Anambra and Abia

Police have arrested 18 pro-Biafran agitators in the southeast geo-political zone during the celebration of the 17th anniversary of the Movement for the Actualisation of Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB).

The Anambra State Police Command on Tuesday arrested 14 Biafra agitators in Onitsha, while four others were whisked away in Abia State during the processions by the Biafra Independent Movement (BIM), Punch writes.

According to the Police Public Relations Officer in Anambra State, the protesters were arrested for their conducts, which were likely to cause the breach of peace.

It will be recalled that violent clashes erupted across the southeast in February as members of the Independent Peoples of Biafra (IPOB) marked 50 years of the ‘republic’.

The Joint Security Task Force set up by the Anambra State Government which comprises soldiers, police, navy and civil defence, among others, cordoned off parts of Onitsha while the march lasted amid sporadic shootings.

Emmanuel Omenka, Anambra North Zonal Leader of the group urged their members to exercise patience as “the day of freedom is near.”

“The present call for restructuring by some segments of the country came about as a result of the fear for the Biafran independence by those who have tied the country down,” he said.

“Going by the numerous times of unprovoked attack on our members by the Nigerian security forces, we may resort to violence.

“The fact that we chose non-violence is not out of cowardice but to maintain the pact Uwazurike signed with the United Nations.

“No amount of restructuring gimmick can make BIM and MASSOB derail from their agitation for a sovereign state of Biafra.”

Anambra Central Zonal Leader of BIM, Chief Vincent Iloh, praised the resilience of MASSOB founder Chief Ralph Uwazurike, adding, “The Nigerian government should allow the Biafra agitators have their own independent state, since the amalgamation of Nigeria in 1914 by our calculation had expired in 2014.

Members of the group defied the rain to mark the anniversary in Abia State, while a similar procession held in Cross Rivers State.