Protest turns tragic: Many killed at Onitsha

Protest turns tragic: Many killed at Onitsha

By Our Reporter  on December 3, 2015   COVER


◾Stand still as agitators block Niger Bridge
From Geoffrey Anyanwu, Awka, Jeff Amechi Agbodo and Aloysius Attah, Onitsha
DAYS of protests calling for the release of Director of Radio Biafra, Nnamdi Kanu, turned tragic yesterday in Onitsha as many people were reported killed.
Nkiruka Anthonia Ikeanyion­wu, 21, a student of Federal College of Education Umun­ze, Anambra State was said to be among the dead.
She was killed during the Bi­afra protest.
Family sources alleged “Nkiruka was killed by secu­rity forces.”
Also, Onitsha-bound pas­sengers, including civil and public servants were stranded yesterday in Awka and neigh­bouring towns as commuter buses and vehicles could not access the commercial city.
This followed the blockade of all junctions close to Onit­sha by the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) protesting Kanu’s detention in Abuja.
Those who left Awka ear­lier in the afternoon to Onit­sha reportedly sent messages to those in still Awka not to bother to come to Onitsha as there was no entry into the city. The protesters, who also set bonfires with a warning on the road, that “today’s protest would be worse,” blocked junctions like Nkpor, Tarzan, Nkwelle, Old Road, Owerri Road, among others.
Thereafter, traders in Onit­sha Main Market were seen trekking home, as there was no vehicle to convey them home due to fear of vandali­sation of their vehicles by the protesters, causing seri­ous hardship and stress to the traders.
New Leader of the Move­ment for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB), Uchenna Madu, said the joint protest would continue until Kanu is re­leased.
According to him, “we had earlier raised the alarm that Federal Government wanted to label us a violent group in order to clampdown on our members. That is what is ex­actly happening now. “Since we started across South-East and parts of the South-South zone, nobody has been at­tacked, neither have we burnt or attack any person or office or church or mosque…”