Hehehe....THOUSANDS of members and supporters of
the Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra shut
down Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital, demanding to break away
from Nigeria on Tuesday.
Waving the Biafran flag as they marched
through major roads in Port Harcourt, both MASSOB members and their
supporters chanted war songs as they also demanded the unconditional
release of one of their members, Mr. Nnamdi Kalu, said to have been
arrested by the police in Lagos.
Though, the MASSOB members were
tear-gassed by men of the Nigeria Police, the action did not deter them
from marching through Ikoku, Ikwerre and the Government House in Port
Harcourt.
The policemen later stopped firing teargas at the protesters and decided to watch the protest march by over 3,000 youths.
The protesters displayed placards with
inscriptions such as, ‘A state of Biafra is non-negotiable,’ ‘On Biafra,
we stand,’ ‘It is do or die,’ ‘We need our freedom peacefully,’ and
‘Release Nnamdi Kalu now.’
The peaceful demonstration caused a
gridlock along Ikwerre road as a result of the huge number of persons
involved in the protest, even as men of the Joint Military Task Force
watched as the youths chanted freedom songs.
It was observed that some police
operatives decided to shoot into the air to scare away the protesters
when they (police) noticed that some of the protesters had stormed the
premises of a new generation bank on Ikwerre road and pulled down a
Nigerian flag.
One of the protesters, who identified
himself as Okechukwu, told our correspondent that he had decided to
sacrifice his life for the struggle to actualise Biafra as a country.
According to Okechukwu, who is a member
of the Indigenous People of Biafra, “I will not stop being part of this
struggle to actualise the sovereign state of Biafra. I am ready to
sacrifice my life for this struggle so that my children will enjoy the
freedom that will come from it.”
The Rivers
State Governor, Chief Nyesom Wike, has warned that his administration
would not tolerate a repeat of the protest embarked upon by members of
the Indigenous People of Biafra.
Members
and supporters of the Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign
State of Biafra and the IPOB had on Tuesday demonstrated in Port
Harcourt, the Rivers State capital.
Both
MASSOB and IPOB had demanded for a breakaway from Nigeria and the
unconditional release of one of their members, Mr. Nnamdi Kalu.
The protesters had marched through Ikoku, Ikwerre and some major roads in the state capital.
But Wike,
who spoke through a statement signed by his Special Adviser on Media and
Publicity, Opunabo Inko-Tariah, said he was peeved by the protest.
The
governor stressed the indivisibility of Nigeria and added that the
actions of the protesters were capable of stimulating chaos in the
state.
“The Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Ezenwo Wike, has warned against insidious actions by anybody or group in the state.
“The
governor, who was peeved by the protest by members of the Indigenous
People of Biafra in Port Harcourt, warned that such demonstrations will
not be brooked by his administration.
“Emphasizing
the indivisibility of Nigeria, the governor said the actions of the
IPOB members are capable of stimulating chaos in the state,” the
statement read.
Wike
warned that as the chief security officer of the state who swore to
protect lives and property, he would not tolerate actions that would
lead to the breakdown of law and order in the state.
He,
however, dissociated himself and the state from the protest and
cautioned that a coercive legal machinery would be set in motion against
any group that would breach the peace in the state.
The
governor called on residents and those transacting businesses in the
state to go about their lawful duties without fear, assuring them of
safety.
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