The Southeast Based
Coalition of Human Rights Organizations (SBCHROs); comprising: Anambra State Branch
of the Civil Liberties Organization (CLO), Center for Human Rights & Peace
Advocacy (CHRPA), Human Rights Club (a project of LRRDC)(HRC), Forum for
Justice, Equity & Defense of Human Rights (FJEDHR), Society Advocacy Watch
Project (SPAW), Anambra Human Rights Forum (AHRF), Southeast Good Governance
Forum (SGGF), International Solidarity for Peace & Human Rights Initiative
(ITERSOLIDARITY) and Igbo Ekunie Initiative (pan Igbo rights advocacy group) are
saddened and shocked concerning the International Igbo Heroes Day Massacre in
various locations in Onitsha and its surrounding communities in Anambra State
as well as Asaba in Delta State by the Nigerian Security Forces, dominated by
soldiers, navy and police. We are further alarmed by unpardonable lies and
wicked regime falsehood running riot in the public media from the direction of
the authorities that carried out the massacre and perpetrated the crimes
against humanity.
Further shocking and saddening is that the massacre was
presidentially ordered through proxy directives and electronically monitored
from the Aso Rock. The orders for the massacre were, in turn, carried out by
the following sub gubernatorial and securitization authorities: Governor Willie
Obiano of Anambra State through his Joint Security Taskforce, Commissioner of
Police, Anambra State Command, Mr. Hosea Karma, the Commander of the 302
Artillery, Nigerian Army, Onitsha and the General Officer Commanding, 82nd Division of the
Nigerian Army, Enugu. Through the existing inter-State security arrangement
between Anambra and Delta States, the Delta State Police Command also
participated in the massacre by coordinating the Abraka-Asaba section of the
massacre.
In other words, the massacre was carefully planned and
executed by the referenced authorities. The massacre can also best be described
as operation “shoot, kill, pick corpses and bury them beyond detection”. For a
clearer understanding, the Anambra State Joint Security Taskforce is composed
of the personnel of the Ogbaru Navy Post, Anambra State Police Command, Onitsha
Military Cantonment, DSS, NSCDC, Anambra Central Vigilante Service, etc. It is
chaired and sub-funded by Governor Willie Obiano and operationally led CP Hosea
Karma; assisted by the Commander of the Military Cantonment. The latter’s
immediate past Commander is Col Isah Abdullahi.
In the referenced massacre operation, detachments of soldiers from
the 82nd Division of the Nigerian Army were also deployed and the
operation was started in late night of 29th of May 2016. Their murderous
operation was kick-started with the invasion of a primary school compound close
to St Edmunds Catholic, Nkpor-Agu in Idemili North LGA of Anambra State during
which some Igbo Nationality activists who arrived in the night of 29th
of May 2016 for Igbo Heroes’ Day anniversary the next day and decided to sleep
in the school premises close to the Church, were attacked, shot at and killed
while others got critically injured. Some of the survivors were also arrested
by soldiers and dumped at the Onitsha Army Barracks till date. The invasion and
shooting took place around 1.30am-2am in the early hours of 30th of May 2016.
Apart from our on-the-spot investigation conducted so far for the
Coalition by Intersociety, we have also read and studied panicky and defenseless
public statements/directives issued by the authorities of the Government of
Anambra State (http://www.tv360nigeria.com/pro-biafra-protests-anambra-government-gives-account-happened/), the 82nd Division of the
Nigerian Army in Enugu (http://dailypost.ng/2016/05/30/several-soldiers-wounded-by-massob-ipob-members-in-onitsha-nigerian-army/#.V0z5YvgOlbk.facebook) and retiring Inspector
General of Police, Mr. Solomon Arase (http://www.newsexpressngr.com/news/detail.php?news=24098&title=IGP-orders-disarming-of-IPOB-activists,-condemns-alleged-killing-of-officers). We have further
listened to defenseless and watery public clarifications concerning the
massacre by the Anambra State Police Commissioner and his Public Relations
Officer.
In all these, we saw panics, contradictions, presidential and
gubernatorial indictments, wickedness, callousness, parasitism, despotism,
animalism, crookedness, cowardice, cannibalism, jihadism, ethnic cleansing,
hate violence, and rabid falsehood in the said statements and roles of the
referenced authorities into the massacre. The most unforgiving of all is the
directive of the retiring Inspector General of Police, Mr. Solomon Arase, who
labeled the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) as “Armed Indigenous People of
Biafra” and further directed his relevant subordinates to “disarm the IPOB members
and charge its members and other innocent citizens arrested during the incident
for murder”. Mr. Solomon Arase who retires on 21st of
June 2016 as Nigeria’s worst IGP since 1999, with bucket-loads of blood of
murdered innocent citizens on his head, is the principal architect of the
ongoing massacre of the defenseless and unarmed Igbo Nationality activists via
his riotous and murderous order of 1st of December 2015.
We clearly see the retiring IGP’s latest order as “operation shoot
and kill any Igbo Nationality (Biafran) activist at sight or in any gathering”.
Labeling clearly non violent and unarmed indigenous rights activists as “armed”
without any concrete evidence till date, is murderous and genocidal. The
effects of this can beastly be interpreted by killer police officers and
uniform jihadists to mean “license to kill” or “order from above to kill”.
All the State murders and proxy murders in Nigeria since December 2015
are expressly linked to President Muhammadu Buhari’s reckless use of confrontational
and combative words and issuance of war-like and genocidal orders to Nigeria’s
security forces against unarmed and nonviolent citizens.
Countering Unpardonable
Lies & Wicked Falsehood Of Anambra State Government, Army & Police: From our detailed
findings, there is no iota of truth contained in the public statements by the
authorities under reference. But we agreed with the aspect of the statement of
the Nigerian Army, 82nd Division to the effect that the roles of
the Army in the Igbo Heroes Day massacre is “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 uncivilized assemblies…”.
The Truth Behind Igbo Heroes & Heroines’ Day
Anniversary: The 30th of May of every year
is set aside since 1966 for remembrance of the fallen heroes of the Igbo Ethnic
Nationality in Nigeria. As recently as 2014 and 2015, it was marked in Enugu
and Aba among dozens of foreign countries in totally peaceful manners. It is
strictly a sedentary event, featuring observance of minutes of silence for Igbo
fallen compatriots; stationary rallies and processions, lectures and prayers or
church services. It has nothing to do with street protests or demonstrations
even though the latter are not constitutionally prohibited in Nigeria. The 2016
anniversary was slated to be held in Onitsha zone and a privately owned newly
graded large virgin land space was scouted for and located along Nkpor-Umuoji
Road, close to the ALO Aluminum Industry Ltd. We understand that the space
belongs to a market association, being cleared for new residential buildings.
The Igbo rights campaigners and organizers of the 2016 Igbo Heroes Day
Anniversary were allowed access into the space by their owners just for the
event.
On 24th of May 2016, a
leading advocate of the anniversary, the Indigenous People of Biafra World
Wide, addressed a notification letter to the Anambra State Commissioner of
Police, Mr. Hosea Karma. The letter was dated 23rd
and signed on 24th of May 2016 by Mr. Uchenna Asiegbu; the group’s head of
the Directorate of State. The CP was constitutionally charged in the letter to
ensure that anniversary was a hitch free and the event venue provided with
security. The said letter was successfully couriered to the CP four days to the
anniversary. A copy of it is attached below. The CP, on receipt of the letter,
neither invited the signatories to the letter or their representatives, nor
made any public pronouncement concerning the status of the letter. Unknown to
organizers of the event including the IPOB, the letter became a counter measure
and State violence working document and based on same, State attacks and
violence against the organizers and their supporters were carefully planned.
Members of the State Joint Security Taskforce were fully mobilized and deadly
armed with more reinforcements from the 82nd Division of
the Nigerian Army. Through existing inter-State security arrangement between
Anambra and Delta States, the Delta State Police Command was also reached out
and placed on alert.
With the
IPOB and its sister bodies banking on its perceived friendly disposition of the
Anambra State based security agencies led by the State Police Command, on
account of the said letter, arrival signals and notifications were dispatched
by the IPOB and other pro Igbo indigenous rights campaigning bodies to all
their members and supporters across the country. Late into the night of 29th
May 2016, they found their routes to Onitsha blocked by battle ready soldiers,
dominated by uniformed jihadists from the core north. The blocked routes are
Onitsha-Enugu Expressway for those coming from Enugu, Ebonyi and Cross Rivers,
Benue, Kogi, etc; Asaba-Onitsha Expressway including Niger Bridgehead and
Abraka Junction in Asaba, for those coming from Abuja, Kano, Kaduna, Delta, Edo
and Southwest; and Onitsha-Owerri Dual Carriage Way for those coming from Imo,
Abia, Port Harcourt, Akwa Ibom, etc. Many of those that arrived late in the
night in chattered vehicular were blocked and forcefully dispatched and turned
back by soldiers. A number of them were arrested, beaten up, injured and
detained.
Some were
shot at Onitsha Niger Bridgehead late into the same night of 29th
of May 2016. Those who arrived few hours before the said late night managed to
find their way into the venue area; forcing them to squat and sleep at the
Primary School, close to St Edmunds Catholic Church at Nkpor-Agu ( which is
close to the event venue). Hours later at about 1.30am-2am, rampaging soldiers
in military trucks from the Onitsha Military Cantonment; acting under the
express instructions of their Commander-in-Chief (Gen Buhari) with the sub
directive of Governor Willie Obiano of Anambra State, stormed the School
Premises close to the Church and shot at them, killing some and wounding and
arresting others.
In the
morning of the d-day (30th of May 2016), hell was let loose, with massive shooting
of live bullets on target and in all directions by security forces of Governor
Obiano’s Joint Security Taskforce. It was also a field day for jihadists and
hate killers of core northern Muslim extraction, armed and uniformed by the
Government of Gen Muhammadu Buhari, under the guise of Nigerian Army or Police
Force, as any gathering of three persons and above was greeted with dozens of
fired live bullets. Scenes of such deadly shootings include Eke-Nkpor by Umuoji
axis, Nkpor Junction, Afor-Nkpor down to Onitsha-Enugu Expressway, Flyover
Bridge by New Parts Market, Ojoto, Uke and Umuoji axis, Ifite-Dunu, Ogbunike
and Ogidi axis, Onitsha Niger Bridgehead, Asaba-Abraka axis, etc. Following the
total blockade of all strategic routes to the event venue, the Igbo Indigenous rights
activists in their thousands divided themselves into three areas of Ifite-Dunu,
Ojoto/Umuoji and Asaba-Abraka/Niger Bridgehead and nonviolently tried to
connect the event venue at Nkpor; yet they were pursued and shot at by
soldiers, police and navy personnel, leading to scores of deaths and hundreds
of deadly injuries. Those who managed to find their way into the event venue
along Nkpor-Umuoji were also shot at and violently dispatched.
Casualty Figures & Invasion Of Teaching Hospital By
Soldiers: While comprehensive
investigations are ongoing, it is our discovery that the planned State violence
against members of the Igbo Indigenous Rights campaign movements and their
supporters including the IPOB; was further designed under operation “shoot,
kill, pick corpses and bury them”; leading to corpses of scores
of those killed being picked by soldiers under heavy security in most of the
shooting scenes. Two sets of eyewitnesses’ accounts had informed Intersociety
on 30th of May 2016 that they sighted three military trucks
loaded with dead bodies at Nkpor, heading to Onitsha Army Barracks. One of the
eyewitnesses is a journalist who said he counted six and another was an
informed IPOB activist who saw two truck-loads of dead bodies. This is not the
first time Army has adopted “shoot, kill, pick corpses and bury them” tactics.
In the Onitsha massacres of 2nd and 17th
of December 2015 of IPOB members and supporters, the murderous soldiers of
Onitsha Military Cantonment also made away with corpses of those they shot
dead. In the Aba massacres of 18th and 29th
of January 2016 as well as 9th of February 2016,
they did same. For instance, three of the corpses of IPOB members they killed
on 17th of December 2015, were discovered in February and March
2016 by Intersociety at the Onitsha General Hospital. Also, the Anambra
State Government through its Commissioner for Information, Mr. Tony Nnacheta,
further attested to the said “shoot, kill, pick corpses and bury them”
operational policy, for the purpose of erasing traces.
This was
during the Government press conference over the massacre yesterday, being 31st
of May 2016. The Commissioner had asked journalists in attendance “have any of
you seen any dead body in connection with the incident”? Contradictorily, the
same Government had in its same statement “extended condolences to those that
died in the incident”.
Apart from ongoing investigation and compilation of the
casualty figures, facts at our disposal clearly shows that the casualty figures
including the dead and the wounded are swelling in number on daily basis.
Fourteen critically injured citizens are presently at the Nnewi Teaching
Hospital of the Nnamdi Azikiwe University, fifteen are at the Multicare
Hospital in Nkpor and nine are admitted at St Mary’s Hospital, Nnewi. There are
scores of others scattered in other private hospitals such as Crown and St
Michael Hospitals in Nkpor and others in Okija, Asaba, etc. Scores of shot
victims have also been taken to undisclosed clinics within and beyond the State
by their relatives and sympathizers. Their emergency orthodox and unorthodox
transfers followed sundry medical and monetary challenges as well as fears of
soldiers storming where they are admitted and abducting them.
The
personnel of the Anambra State Police Command, who were later joined by
soldiers had also in the evening of the same 30th
of May 2016, stormed the Nnewi Teaching Hospital and abducted 12 critically
shot victims admitted at the Emergency Unit. Others abducted, according to a
key eyewitness and one of the abductees, Ugoo K.C.; are scores of the victims’
relatives and associates who responded to distress calls when their loved ones
were shot by soldiers and other members of the Obiano’s JTF. Both the shot
victims and their relatives were taken to the State CID in Awka same
night and dumped for hours before the shot victims were returned to the
Hospital hours later same night, leaving behind their relatives and
sympathizers who are still detained till date. The anti humanitarian tactics under
complaint are also not new to the murderous soldiers. In late night of 17th
December 2015, the same soldiers of the Onitsha Military Cantonment invaded the
Multicare Hospital in Nkpor and abducted 22 critically shot victims on
emergency admission alongside their relatives and sympathizers. They were shot
earlier in the day at the Onitsha Niger Bridgehead by soldiers for jubilating
over the court-ordered release of IPOB leader, Citizen Nnamdi Kanu (POC). Four
later died in the same Hospital owing to delayed treatments occasioned by their
late night abduction by soldiers.
We shall respond to unpardonable lies and wicked regime
falsehoods and muderous directives of the named perpetrator-authorities in the
second part of this statement.
Signed:
For: Southeast Based Coalition
of Human Rights Organizations (SBCHROs)
Emeka
Umeagbalasi, Leader SBCHROs & Board Chair, Intersociety
Mobile Line:
+2348174090052
Comrade Aloysius Attah, Chair, Anambra CLO & Head,
Publicity, SBCHROs
Mobile Line:
+2348035090548
Jerry Chukwuokoro, PhD, Head, Research & Strategy,
SBCHROs
Mobile Line: +2348035372962
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