Police kill 3 MASSOB members in Imo, injure 5

The movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) has condemned the killing of three of its members by the officers of the Imo State command during the burial ceremony of  late Chief Theophilus Njika, erstwhile Chief Security Officer of the movement.

This was just as the movement has demanded the release of the three deceased members, who were shot dead by the police officers, attached to the Orlu Police division, describing it as worrisome that the police had become an instrument of brutality.

In a statement signed by the MASSOB Deputy Director for Information, Mazi Chris Mocha and made available to Daily Sun, he stated that on January 16, 2015 Mr. Nnamdi Njika an elder brother to the late Theophilus Njika, had disagreed with some members of the family on the actual site where the grave should be sited.

The statement read in part: “Trouble started on Friday, January 16, 2015 in Ofeahia Amaifeke in Orlu, when an elder brother of the late MASSOB member, Nnamdi Njika, who had a disagreement with some of his family members over where the deceased should be buried, but in spite of the explanations by the MASSOB leaders in the area and elders in the family, Chief John Agu and the traditional Prime Minister, Chief Akpaeri, lodged a false complaint to the police in the Area Command in Orlu.”

Adding, that the police on arrival fired canisters of tear gas at the crowd in their bid to stop the burial ceremony and when their mission to disperse the MASSOB members failed, they (policemen) opened fire on the defenseless Biafran Security Men, killing three on the spot while five others sustained gunshot wounds and were prevented from being treated at a hospital in Umuna, near Orlu.”

However, when contacted, the spokesman of the Imo State Police Command, Mr. Andrew Enwerem (DSP), said that no such incident was ever reported to the state command.

“I am not aware of any such incident and as the spokesman of the command, no such matter as serious as killing three persons was ever reported to the command except of course some people just want to magnify falsehood,” he said.