The Coalition of South East Youth Leaders (COSEYL) has accused the Nigerian Army and Nigerian Police of killing five members of Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) in Aba, Abia State.
The killings, according to COSEYL P-G, were perpetrated at Osusu road/ Azikiwe -Asa road area of the Enyimba city by Friday afternoon. The group, in a statement by its President-General, Hon Goodluck Ibem, alleged that the IPOB members were gunned down by combined team of Army and Police. Ibem, said that the protest by the IPOB members in Aba on Friday, was a peaceful exercise to demand for the release of their leader, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu from detention. He wondered why the members of security agencies would fire live bullets at people who he said, were on peaceful march.
He called for the arrest and prosecution of all security men involved in the alleged killing, lamenting that security men in the country did not have regards for human life.
Abia State Police Command was yet to issue a statement on the issue as at time of this report even Geoffrey Ogbonna, the State Police Command’s spokesman was yet to pick his calls to confirm or debunk the involvement of Policemen in the crises. A source at busy Azikiwe/Asa road and Osusu road axis told News Echo that the IPOB members were dressed in white clothes during their march around the area.
The source explained that the pro-Biafra members were singing some songs calling for the release of their detained leader, Nnamdi Kanu. The Aba resident said that the protest was initially peaceful until after 30 minutes when some Policemen arrived the area and started firing bullets in the air to disperse the IPOB men, but the IPOB kept singing pro-Nnamdi Kanu songs in high voices. The situation assumed a violent dimension as live bullets hit some members of the group, which COSEYL said killed five IPOB members.
