Police in Ebonyi State have raided the office of Movement for Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) and carted away some items in the office.
It was gathered that mobile policemen in three Hilux vans stormed the regional office of MASSOB at No. 9, Hatchery Road in Abakaliki at about noon at the weekend. No arrest was made because there was nobody in the office at the time of the raid.
The Abakaliki Regional Administrator of MASSOB, Mr. Osita Obiajulu, told Daily Sun that policemen invaded their office when they were not in the office and allegedly made away with N170, 000 they kept in the table locker, and removed their signpost and flag. He said the mobile policemen came looking for mebers of the MOSSOB and when they realized that their targets were not around they broke into the office through the window.
“We are calling on President Goodluck Jonathan and inspector general of police to intervene in the matter and urge them to return our items they took from our office including money. We are a peaceful group, we have not attacked or harassed anybody since we started this movement. We have constitutional right to belong to any association, we don’t have gun, we don’t have knife but every time, police keep arresting, intimidating and molesting our members. Police want to push us to the wall, we are peaceful and we will remain peaceful but police should stop harassing MASSOB members,” he stated.
But in a swift reaction, the Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Mr. Sylvester Igbo, a deputy superintendent (DSP), who confirmed the incident, denied collection of money from the office of MASSOB by the police as alleged by the MASSOB members.Igbo stated that members of MASSOB ran away when police came to arrest them for hoisting Biafran flag, an act of treason, which according to him, was a threat to the law abiding citizens of the state.
However, the Director of Information of MASSOB, Mr. Uchenna Madu, condemned the attack on the office of MASSOB in Abakaliki, saying the activities, operations and existence for the past 14 years were purely on non-violence and does not amount to any threat to the society.
From Jeff Amechi Agbodo, Abakaliki
