Corpses of some Indigenous People of Biafra members reportedly killed by
Nigerian soldiers have been discovered in a bush in Umuahia.
The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB)
has declared 21 days mourning for its members killed during the military
invasion of the home of its leader, Nnamdi Kanu at Afara Ukwu, Umuahia,
Abia State. The group also revealed that it has discovered more corpses of its
slain members in a bush within the precincts of the home of its leader.
According to the group, 28 of its members were found in the bush
following the invasion. About 11 of such bodies have already been
interred.
In a report,
a senior member of the group, Mark Eze Ofuonye, who disclosed how some
of their members were shot dead by the invading soldiers, and their
corpses dumped in a bush near the home of the IPOB leader, said: “Some
of our members, numbering over 28, were murdered in cold blood by the
military during the invasion of our leader’s home at Afara Ukwu. The
soldiers were doing a sort of mop up operation; whenever they killed any
of our members, they carried away the corpse to conceal their
horrendous act but it was not possible.
“So, they filled up their trucks with our members’ corpses. The
corpses we retrieved and which we are burying at present are those the
soldiers could not carry. They just came out with the intention of
killing any human being or living thing that was found in the compound
of our leader. The people they met were not armed still they shot them,
even people just standing nearby and those passing through the area were
caught in the attack.”
Continuing, Ofuonye said: “The corpses we are burying now
(referring to the day of the interview) were found inside the bush. They
were shot by soldiers and they ran into the bush with bullet wounds
thinking that they could receive help there but no help came their way
and they died inside the bush. Some of the dead bodies were discovered
last week inside the bush at the back of Nnamdi Kanu’s house. The 28
were those ones that were killed within the axis of the house of our
leader. But the total number killed within this range is 305 persons.”
The IPOB chieftain who said there was no need for the operation by
the Nigerian army as members of the group did not carry arms neither
were they violent, added that the leadership of the group declared the
21-day mourning for their slain members. Disclosing that those killed were from the Eastern heartland,
Ofuonye said that in addition to burying the dead, the group is also
treating the injured and taking care of the imprisoned ones.
“We lost very vibrant and lovely youths who were just
peacefully asking for their rights, but the Nigerian government chose to
use brute force on them. Some of our members, who were forced to drink
poisoned water, have been defecating blood and we are also treating
them. About 76 of our members were dumped in Aba prisons under the most
inhuman condition and many of them are ill. A lot of things are being
done against our members, but the most beautiful thing about all these
things is that the horrible experience we are passing through is giving
us strength. The spirit has risen, the enthusiasm has come because when
you look back and see you’ve lost a lovely one, a colleague, going back
becomes a very big problem; you can’t go so that it will not look as
betrayal. As I speak, we are establishing more zones and new members are
coming in, we are winning the war of battle of hearts and minds,” he assured. He said the 21-days of mourning began October 26. He was emphatic that the struggle would continue, stating: “Because
in any struggle, people die, but the only painful aspect of it is that
we lost young boys, youths who had bright future. In the civilized
world, you don’t touch people like that, no matter what they did, at
worst you take them to court; but we have drawn strength from their
death and we are not going back.”
He advised the United Nations to send its representatives to the
home of their leader at Afara Ukwu to be able to see how soldiers
invaded the house of a core civilian with heavy armoury and none of the
soldiers sustained any scratch which he said was an indication that
despite the propaganda mounted by the Nigerian army, the IPOB members
were not armed.
Source: SundaySun
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