Biafra Protest Turns Bloody: Five Persons Killed, More Injured

About five persons were killed at the Niger Bridge Head on Thursday, while seven others sustained injuries when members of the Indigenous people of Biafra, IPOB, and Movement for the Actualization of Sovereign State of Biafra, MASSOB, clashed with Joint Task Force, JTF, comprising the Army and the Police, which mounted road block at the Niger Head Bridge.

Four of the victims shot dead were members of both IPOB and MASSOB, while one person is said to be a soldier, who was grabbed by the misguided mob and allegedly beaten to death.

Meanwhile, a Federal High Court in Abuja on Thursday ordered the DSS to release the detained leader of IPOB, Mr. Nnamdi Kanu. The court directed that Kanu, who had been in detention since October 17, should be released “unconditionally.”

The court order came barely 24 hours after an Abuja Chief Magistrate’s Court sitting at Wuse Zone 2, struck out a one-count charge the Federal Government preferred against the IPOB leader.

Meanwhile, according to an eye-witness at the Onitsha Head Bridge, who was coming from Asaba end of the bridge, the Biafra agitators were said to be marching on the road near the River Niger Bridge, chanting solidarity songs in jubilation for the release of Nnamdi Kanu, and were accosted by the soldiers, who ordered them to go back, and disagreements ensued leading to casualties.

Contacted, the Police Public Relations Officer, PPRO, Mr. Ali Okechukwu confirmed the clash and accused the pro-Biafra agitators of mobilizing over 100 of their members to launch attack on the soldiers at the Niger Bridge Head and even tried to dispossess them of their guns.