MASSOB suffers fresh attack by SARS, Police

Members of the Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) had a rough day on Monday.


They came under a fresh attack from the police and soldiers in Anambra State.
Men of the Special An­ti-Robbery Squad (SARS) stormed the Ogbaru Region­al office of the Chief Ralph Uwazuruike-led MASSOB also known as Biafra Inde­pendent Movement (BIM) and made some arrests.

Apparently not im­pressed with the number of arrests, the police returned to the scene but were fiercely resisted by MASSOB mem­bers. This prompted them to seek reinforcement from the Nigerian Army.

Operatives of SARS arrest­ed MASSOB’s Anambra North Security Command­er, Mr. Christian Oguchi Kato, and four others.

In a swift reaction to the incident, MASSOB gave the security agencies 48 hours to release the detainees to avoid actions that could paralyse the state.

It was further learnt that SARS, supported by the sol­diers, took away two motorcy­cles from the office while oth­er properties worth thousands of naira were destroyed.

Sources said that two hours after the first raid, the SARS team returned to the scene but met severe resist­ance from the MASSOB members which prompt­ed the team to speed off and called for reinforcement from the soldiers.

The soldiers reportedly ar­rived at the spot in three Hilux vans but the area had been de­serted by MASSOB members.

The Anambra North Zonal Leader of MASSOB, Mr. Emmanuel Omenka, said: “They should not take our non-violence posture for weakness. After 48 hours, if our security man is not re­leased, we will ground busi­ness activities in Onitsha and its environs”.

According to him, “we do not know where they have tak­en five of our members to. The police took two of our motor­cycles and ransacked the office and even invited the soldiers to help them kill us.”

In her reaction, the Ogba­ru Regional Director of MAS­SOB, Mrs. Virginia Ubazuonu, condemned the raid, declaring that, “Enough is enough; we can no longer take this.”

The Police Commissioner, Sam Okuala, did not respond to calls on his mobile phone.

IPOB welcomes S/East Govs’ new stand on Nnam­di Kanu
Meanwhile, the Indige­nous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB) have commended the South East Governors’ Forum for summoning the courage at last to call for the release of their detained leader, Mr. Nnam­di Kanu.
The group, in a statement by the Media and Publicity Secretary, Comrade Emma Powerful, urged the gover­nors to be resolute in demand­ing for the rights of Ndigbo as Nnamdi Kanu had done over the years.

He said: “This is the first time in recorded history that South East Governors have stood boldly to align them­selves with the interest of the masses, which in this case, is the call on President Muham­madu Buhari to end the injus­tice against the people of Bia­fra by releasing Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, the IPOB leader.

If they had summoned the courage like Governor Ayo Fayose of Ekiti State and former Anam­bra State Governor Dr. Chuk­wuemeka Ezeife, the South East wouldn’t have been in such a moral mess as it is to­day. We hope this new-found boldness will extend to their speaking up for the victims of Fulani herdsmen attacks in our rural communities.”