Tension in Onitsha as Hausa residents flee city by Emmanuel Obe, Awka from PUNCH
Leader of the Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra, Chief Ralph Uwazuruike, on Tuesday said there would be no reprisal on northerners in the South-East following Monday’s bus bombing in Kano where more than 30 people were reportedly killed. Calling for calm, Uwazurike said, “We are not known for bloodletting and Ndigbo cannot be cowed into shedding blood but we want an end to this senseless bloodletting of the Igbo in the North in whatever name called.”
The MASSOB leader’s assurance came as Hausa residents in Onitsha shut their shops and fled the city for fear of reprisals. Non-indigenes, mainly northerners, closed all their business premises at the Head Bridge Market and other parts of the city to seek protection in various security stations including the Army barracks in the city and police stations. Chairmen of Ndigbo Unity Forum and Anambra Traders’ Forum, Augustine Chukwudum and Dede Uzor, condemned the attack in Kano, describing it as barbaric and threat to the country’s unity. They also praised the prompt intervention of the Commander, 302 Army cantonment, Onitsha, Col, T Gagariga; Navy Commander A. Ahmed and the Onitsha Area Police Commander, Mr. Benjamin Wordu for calming the tensed situation in Onitsha. Chukwudum said, “We call on the Federal Government to declare a state of emergency in Kano, Borno, Gombe, Yobe and Adamawa states. “That is the only option left to stop these killings of Ndigbo in the northern states of Nigeria. We call on Federal Government to compensate the families of those who lost their loved ones in the attack. Let security men take full control of the situation and provide security for Ndigbo in the North.”
