[reposted as in the original, issued
on Thursday 22 September 2016]
SAFETY AND SECURITY ALERT FOR CITIZENS OF
SOUTHEAST AND SOUTH-SOUTH NIGERIA: Exposing Planned Massacre Of Innocent
Citizens By Army Using Anti Sit-At-Home As Cover
(Onitsha
Nigeria, 22nd of September 2016)-It has
come to the notice of International
Society for Civil Liberties & the Rule of Law that the Nigerian
Security Forces particularly the Nigerian Army, are at it again. Our extensive
investigations clearly indicate that ahead of tomorrow’s [FRIDAY 23 SEPTMBER
2016] Sit-At-Home protest organized by leading Pro Biafra groups particularly
the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB); there are heavy deployment of soldiers
in all nooks and crannies of the Southeast and the South-South parts of
Nigeria; with the Southeast being the worst affected.
By close-source and open-source
information available to us, the most affected States are Anambra and Abia;
followed by Imo, Ebonyi and Enugu. In the South-south are Rivers, Delta, Akwa
Ibom and Cross River States. Most affected cities now under siege are Onitsha
and Aba. Others are Owerri, Enugu, Umuahia, Abakiliki, Asaba, Okigwe, Nnewi and
Nkpor. As at this morning, there are heavy presence of soldiers in major areas
of Onitsha and Aba.
As a matter of fact, we saw passersby
retiring home from work and trade being frog-jumped and whipped by soldiers at
Upper Iweka and Onitsha Niger Bridge areas of Onitsha in the evening of
yesterday. Before now, there had been frightening number of military
check-points mounted along major Federal and State Roads and other strategic
junctions and intersections in the Southeast part of Nigeria. Most of these
soldiers are of northern Muslim extractions with entrenched culture of ethnic
bias and hatred.
Further reports have it that more
reinforcements will be moved from the 82nd Division of the
Nigerian Army in Enugu between 10am today and 5am tomorrow morning to Onitsha,
Aba, Umuahia, Port Harcourt and Abakiliki.
Some road users have also informed
Intersociety of long military convoys moving towards Onitsha, Aba, etc, from
the Enugu 82nd Division of the Nigerian Army.
Totality of these is that Southeast is
under siege despite total absence of non-State actor security threats. It
alarms and worries us at Intersociety as why an indoor-protest will warrant such
State obsessive and crude security reactions. Which is why we held and still
hold correctly that the flooding of the Southeast and the South-south;
particularly the Southeast with battalions of soldiers is for the purpose of
repeating the May 30, 2016
Mayhem at Nkpor. It is recalled that dozens of innocent
citizens numbering as much as 110 were massacred in hours and scores of others
terminally injured by Nigerian Army, after which most of their bodies were
picked and later buried in 15 mass graves inside Onitsha Army Barracks.
The most shocking and horrible part of
it is that scores of those shot and killed were passersby, onlookers, artisans
working in their work places; traders trading in their provision stores and
citizens returning from early church services. For instance, three innocent
citizens returning from their early morning mass service at St Edmunds Catholic
Church along Umuoji Road, Nkpor were among those shot and killed; after which
their bodies were picked and taken away by soldiers till date.
Though most members of the public
including leading Christian bodies have since adjusted their programs for
tomorrow in compliance with the Indoor
or Sit-At-Home protest appeal, but the Nigerian Army has
further aided same unprofessionally and crudely, by creating security panics
and atmosphere most likely to result in mass murder or massacre of innocent
members of the public; claiming that those shot and killed are those caught armed and enforcing sit-at-home or
forcing people going about their lawful businesses back to their homes.
These the Security Forces particularly soldiers will label “violent/armed IPOB
or MASSOB Members”.
That is to say that the Nigerian
Security Forces particularly the Nigerian Army have endangered any form of
public movement tomorrow in the Southeast and the South-south parts of Nigeria,
particularly in the cities of Onitsha, Asaba, Enugu, Nkpor, Umuahia, Owerri,
Abakiliki, Nnewi, Aba, Port Harcourt and so on.
It is therefore too risky and
death-prone for road users including traders, civil servants, school children,
artisans, okada, keke and commercial bus drivers, etc to leave their homes
tomorrow particularly in the Southeast part of Nigeria and South-south cities
of Asaba, Port Harcourt, Uyo, etc. This is because they can get killed
individually or in group by soldiers and their bodies taking away and bury
secretly in mass graves. This is more so when most of the soldiers being
drafted are serial ethnic cleansers and hate killers.
To avoid innocent members of the public
being massacred by soldiers, navy and police personnel on their way to markets,
offices, workstations, vehicular terminals and schools, all civil members of
the public are called upon to stay off roads tomorrow and avoid risking their
safety and lives. This passionate appeal should respectfully be fully complied
with and acted upon and disseminated in all cities of the Southeast and the
South-south parts of Nigeria.
Signed:
Emeka Umeagbalasi, BSc Criminology & Sec. Studies;
MSc (c), Peace & Conflict Studies
Board
Chairman, International Society for Civil Liberties & the Rule of Law-INTERSOCIETY
Mobile Line:
+2348174090052
Email: info@intersociety-ng.org
Website: www.intersociety-ng.org
Obianuju Igboeli, LLB,
BL; LLM (c)
Head, Civil
Liberties & Rule of Law Program
Mobile Line:
+2348034186332
Chinwe Umeche, LLB, BL
Mobile Line:
+2347013238673
Head,
Democracy & Good Governance Program
Twitter @HerbertEkweEkwe
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