Members of the Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra, MASSOB on Friday gave the Nigeria police and
other security agencies a four-day ultimatum to release over 11 of its members who were recently arrested and shot in Onitsha.
Addressing journalists in the commercial city of Onitsha, the MASSOB administrator for Awka North region, Mr. Tony Nwodo said the movement has given the police just four days to release all its members arrested or charge them to court.
He further called for the immediate release of the corpse of one Chimezie allegedly shot dead by a joint team of army and police at Nkwelle Ezunanka recently during a shoot-out, adding that after the expiration of the ultimatum, the movement may explore alternative avenue to seek justice.
Mr. Nwodo also accused the police of torturing MASSOB members while raising the alarm over the whereabouts of over five members of the body, adding: “We are still searching for five of our members who got missing after the police shot one of us”
He gave the names of the detainees as Ifeanyi Pota, Ifeanyi Agbom, Kelechi Nkwuta, Emeka Martin, Chibuike Okafor, Osita Anene and Chimezie who was shot dead during the operation. He also said John Okechukwu, Chidubem Sunday, Okafor Ede, Emeka Nwani and Greg Chimezie are still missing.
The regional administrator further challenged the police and other law enforcement agencies to charge their members to court if they were found to have committed any crime, adding that they would be forced to go to court to seek redress over the alleged killing of their member.
“The police should release our members within these four days we have graciously given to them. Our members are not criminals and MASSOB has stood tall in maintaining law and order in the state and Igbo land in general”, he said.
He wondered why police and other security agencies could be hunting for MASSOB members, maiming and killing them without any justification. “We have taken our case to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) at The Hague to look into the inhuman treatment we are facing in Nigeria” he said.
From EMMANUEL UZOR, Onitsha
