MASSOB breeding kidnappers and armed robbers – Anambra police boss

The Anambra State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Hassan Karma yesterday in Onitsha accused the Movement for the Actualisation of Sovereign State of Biafra, MASSOB of breeding criminals even as the command paraded 43 MASSOB members in Awka.  The police Commissioner also  proclaimed ban on the  police in the state from following revenue agents and collectors in the name of security.

He warned people who are fond of using the police in achieving their selfish ends in civil matter to desist from doing so and to “keep police out of civil matter as it is not part of their job. Any body who has a civil matter to sort out should go to court.”

Most members of the movement paraded were workers on building construction sites, traders and motor park operators.

The commissioner observed that there had been increase on the rate of assault on innocent people in the state in recent times by members of the group, alleging that most of those attacked were dispossessed of their personal effects such as  cash, mobile phones, hand bags, among other things.

According to him, members of the movement were arrogating to themselves so much authority as if they were acting on government’s directives and made it clear that the group did not have the backing of the law, or that of government to engage in such activities.

Mr. Karma also disclosed that the police will not give the MASSOB any opportunity to operate in the state because they are breeding criminals who will go into kidnapping and armed robbery.

Speaking during his visit to the Police Area Command, Onitsha; Central Police Station, Inland Town Police Division, Fegge Divisional Police, all in Onitsha, the Police Commissioner said that over 50 members of MASSOB who were arrested  on Sunday  have been moved to Police Zonal Command Umuahia, popularly known as Zone 9.

He said that 27 of them were arrested in a church in Okpoko where they allegedly held a Catholic priest hostage to pray for them, while 28 were arrested in Nnewi.

Man Arrested For Pouring Hot Oil On His Wife Over Food.

The Anambra state police command has arrested one Uchenna Okoye for pouring hot oil on his wife Njideka (pictured above) during an argument at their home. When interrogated, the father of 3 said he got into an argument with his wife after he returned from work last week Tuesday and there was no food for him to eat.

He said he got angry when she told him she'd sent someone to go buy foodstuff for her to make the food as he'd repeatedly warned her not to send people to get their food stuff. As they argued, he poured hot oil on her.

A remorseful Mr Okoye has since pleaded for forgiveness from his wife and the police. He is however still being detained at the Central Police station in Awka, the Anambra state capital.

Electronics dealers decry closure of Onitsha Market

Traders in Onitsha International Electronics Market have decried the closure of the market by the Anambra State Urban Development Board.

The Secretary of the market, Mr Damian Ogudike, told newsmen in Onitsha on Thursday that the closure was “illegal and unwarranted.”

Ogudike said the traders had lost millions of naira due to the action of the board.

He however, called on Governor Willie Obiano to investigate the action of the board, adding that the traders did not deserve such maltreatment.

Ogudike said, “We call on Governor Willie Obiano to investigate the illegal activities of ASUDEB.

“The General Manager of ASUDEB and his team would have been lynched by traders when they were locking up the gates but for my intervention.

“How can they block the access road which is a service lane that leads to our market from Onitsha-Enugu Expressway through Uga road to Obodo-Ukwu road and then into our market and others.

“Envoy Oil Company dumps waste materials on the service lane and we used our own money to remove the waste and construct drains that help to control the flood in the market.”

However, the General Manager of the board, Mr Nathan Enemuo, said he locked the gates on the directive of the Commissioner for Lands, Mrs. Stella Onuorah.

“Before we locked the gates, we served them with revocation notice because the gates were not part of the plan of the market.

“Also, the market and industries are not compatible to stay in one place according to the master plan of the area,” he said.

The News Agency of Nigeria recalls that the officials of ASUDEB led by the general manager early on Monday, locked up the entrance and exit gates to the market.

Cholera Claims 10 In Anambra

Troubled Amansea in Awka North Local Government Area of Anambra State, where about 48 dead bodies were dumped in its Ezu River in 2013 by unknown persons, is in the news again as 10 persons have been feared dead as a result of cholera outbreak and other water borne diseases in the area.

The people of the community were also worried that their gods might have been angry since the dumping of the corpses, alleging that no fewer than 20 motor accidents had been recorded near the Ezu River Bridge since the dumping incident.

According to the village head of Amaowele village, who is also a member of Igwe’s cabinet at Amansea, Chief Benjamin Onoania, the people are unhappy that Anambra State government had failed to fulfil its promise of sinking a borehole for them, after the dumping of the corpses in their only source of water supply in 2013.

Onoania said that though they stopped using water from Ezu River for some time after the incident, they were left with no choice than to resort to the water from the river since there was no alternative.

He added that the resultant effect was the recent outbreak of cholera which experts attributed to water-borne diseases.

He also claimed that the gods were angry because they were not appeased after the dumping of the corpses, which was why, he stated, there had been frequent motor accidents near the river.

He said that one of such accidents occurred recently in his own compound during which a bus rammed into his gate, broke into the compound and destroyed a shop.

He said:  “The bus knocked down two people who were rushed to the Nnamdi Azikiwe University Teaching Hospital, Nnewi where they were treated.

“These signs show that the gods are not happy. I am in danger, especially since the bus ran into my compound because the gods say that I have not done anything as the representative of the village in the Igwe’s council, to appease the gods.”

Onoania regretted that the community had been abandoned, adding that it was only made an object of political campaign during elections as politicians in the state visited the community and made promises without fulfilling them when they got into office.

He said the community had officially appealed to Governor Willie Obiano, through its traditional ruler, Igwe Kenneth Okonkwo and the member representing Awka North state constituency in the state House of Assembly, Mr. Boniface Okonkwo, to come to their aid, though nothing concrete had come out of it.

He also appealed to the state government to provide the necessary materials to appease the gods as his people were traditionally inclined to believe that Ezu River had spiritual powers.

Police Kills Seven During Pro-Biafra Rally

According to some reports from Anambra state, three people were fatally shot dead on the spot and 30 others got bullet wounds when the police and Nigerian navy opened fire to disperse the crowd of the pro-Biafra marchers in Onitsha on Sunday

… ended with a bloodbath

More than twenty people were critically wounded and by this Monday morning there were seven people dead as a result of shooting at the demonstrators.

Critically wounded person gets treatment.

The death toll hasn’t been verified officially yet, but the reports claim that those people were hit with stray bullets.

Another victim of the police and military shooting in Anambra state.

The crowd gathered under the aegis of the Indigenous People of Biafra which issued official statement condemning the shooting at the unarmed people.

Pro-Biafra marchers were peaceful and unarmed, reports claim.

It claims that over 30 people got shot and 7 people were confirmed dead on Monday while 20 more were critically wounded.

“How come our security men find it so easy to kill peaceful IPOB members but won’t lift a finger against the deadly Boko Haram? These brothers were peaceful in their engagement, they weren’t radical or causing any harm according to eye witnesses, they weren’t armed, so why shoot at them?” was said in the IPOB statement.

The agitation for the actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra has been on for some time now. The Republic of Biafra came about when a secessionist state situated in south-eastern of Nigeria tried to break away from Nigeria but were stopped. Biafra was inhabited mostly by the Igbo people and was in existence from 30th May 1967 to 15th January 1970.

The Movement for the Actualization of State of Biafra (MASSOB) is yet to give up the fight to secede from Nigeria. The group have even established a radio station, called Radio Biafra somewhere in Europe.