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SPECIAL REPORT: How the Onitsha massacre of pro-Biafra supporters was coordinated, SSS operative -premiumtimesng

A week after the slaying of pro-Biafra demonstrators in Onitsha, details of how the mass killing was coordinated by security forces has emerged.
PREMIUM TIMES has obtained an insider account by a whistleblower, who is an operative of the State Security Service.
The same whistleblower had reached out and provided vital information to two human rights organization, the Amnesty International and the Intersociety for Civil Liberties & Rule of Law.

Blowing the whistle

The operative, who was part of the security joint operation but is now disturbed by the manner soldiers “refused to play by the rule”, contacted a trusted human rights activist.
The identity of the whistleblower is being concealed so he is not punished by the authorities. His recorded narrative is however in the possession of this newspaper.

The whistleblower stated that the operation started with medium use of force on the night of May 29.

The following morning, the joint task force moved from the Onitsha Army Barracks to the rally venue on Nkpor-Umuoji Road only to find a crowd of pro-Biafra supporters who had been battered the night before by invading soldiers in the premises of St Edmunds Catholic Primary School.

The crowd, joined by newcomers, was by now in a resistance mood.
At that point the JTF retreated to Onitsha Military Barracks. The retreat infuriated Cantonment Commander, Issah M. Abdullahi, a colonel, who ordered them back to clear the venue and roads of all “miscreants.”

With this firm directive, the JTF, dominated by soldiers and led by Major C.O. Ibrahim of the Nigerian Military Police, stormed the streets and the event venue.
The rest is history. The whistleblower said that while other members of the JTF were minimizing the use of force, soldiers recklessly opened fire at crowds, shooting at close range, and “wasting people indiscriminately.”

Passersby and people in their homes and shops were not spared of stray bullets, the SSS operative said.
He said it got to a point where injured pro-Biafra supporters, seeing the countless bodies of their colleagues on the ground, opened their arms wide, advanced towards the soldiers screaming that they too should be killed.

Three military trucks were used to cart away heaps of dead bodies.
According to the whistleblower, there are two cemeteries inside the Onitsha Army Barracks. Though reserved for fallen soldiers, victims of the massacre were buried in the cemetery close to Yahweh Church, inside the barracks.

The whistleblower added that in the evening of the same day when everyone thought the dust had settled, JTF operatives invaded the Nnewi Teaching Hospital and to the fury of nurses, abducted 12 gunshot victims and seven of their relations looking after them.

The 19, including women, were brought before the Commissioner of Police, Hosea Karma. He claimed that the commissioner accused the 19 of threatening the security of the state.
He would however order that the wounded men be returned to the hospital while their family members be taken away by SARS for interrogation. Human rights activists familiar with police tactics in Nigeria say that interrogation by SARS is a euphemism for torture.

Continuing his narrative, the whistleblower said that on June 2, two days after the massacre, soldiers stormed the Nnewi hospital and arrested eight of the 12 critical injured men the commissioner had earlier sent back to hospital.

Their whereabouts remain unknown.

PREMIUM TIMES separately gathered that on June 3, five men with serious bullet wounds were transferred by soldiers from Onitsha Army Barracks to the State CID and dumped inside a cell without any medical attention.

We are unable to ascertain if the five men were among the eight abducted from Nnewi Teaching Hospital the day before. The name of one of the abducted men is given as Ugoo K.C.
As the news spread that soldiers had invaded the Nnewi Teaching Hospital, gunshot victims in other hospitals begged their relations to move them to other states.

Among those moved to Abia State were Chidi Nwigwe, Uchenna Odaa, Ezeaka Ejike, Chima Anamuasonye, Nwaowe John, Ifeanyi C. Azubuike and Ugochukwu Nnamu. Those moved to Enugu included Ifeanyi Ogumma and Arinze Aja.
Since the whistleblower’s account, human rights groups have worked their contacts in the various security outfits to check out the story.

A security source, another SSS source and a military police source individually confirmed that a mass burial occurred in the afternoon of Wednesday, June 1 in a military cemetery, near Yahweh Church, inside the Onitsha Military Barracks.
The military police source added that a total of 15 graves were prepared with some taking as many as 10 bodies while some contained only five.

To hell and back: an escapee experience

‘To hell and back’ is the only way to summarize the experience of Henry Ibebuike Enekwe, the 32-year old electrical engineer who was abducted by soldiers on his way to Enugu.
News of Mr. Enekwe’s abduction was widely circulated by the human rights coalition called the Southeast Based Coalition of Human Rights Organizations.

Recounting his ordeal, Mr. Enekwe, who is not an IPOB member, said he was on his way to Enugu from Onitsha to seal an electrical-installation contract with a Lagos-based businessman. In the morning of the D-Day, May 30, 2016, he was abducted by soldiers and taken to the Onitsha Military Cantonment.

“I live at Nkpor-Agu. The greatest shock of my live was witnessing the killing of three young men returning from early-morning mass in front of the street leading to St Edmunds Catholic Church Nkpor-Agu (Early-morning mass is a daily ritual for Catholic communities). I was arrested and thrown inside a military truck. I think the three young men panicked when they saw the soldiers waving their guns and barking. They attempted to run and right before my very eyes, the soldiers fired at them one after the other.

They picked up their corpses and threw them like logs of wood into the same truck I was sitting inside. The soldiers moved from that street to another, arresting people and throwing them inside the same truck and killing others and picking up their bodies. They were acting like hunters on a hunting expedition.

“When we got to the barracks, I saw heaps of bodies on the ground. Those still breathing were dumped together with the dead. Another military vehicle brought in a new set of corpses. Later in the evening, all the corpses were taken in the direction of a nursery and primary school inside the barracks. I never saw anything again because we were taken into a cell,” Mr. Enekwe recounted.
While in captivity, Mr. Enekwe said he and other detainees were tortured every morning by soldiers.
“The soldiers call it morning tea. They force us to lie on a long bench and flog you with koboko (horsewhip) till you begin to bleed. When blood comes out, they pour water on wounds and continue to flog you to bring out more blood. As they flogged us, they rain curses on our mothers, our fathers and our tribes,” Mr. Enekwe recalled.

In a little office filled with sympathizers, among them a PREMIUM TIMES reporter, Mr. Enekwe told human rights activists that in the night of Wednesday June 1, about 8.30pm, soldiers guarding his cell crudely announced to the detainees: “We don give your brothers mass burial today and if you people mess up, you will join them and nothing will happen.”
The engineer further added that in the early hours of June 3, about 1.30am, soldiers came to his cell and moved some detainees, including six groaning with gunshot wounds. They were never returned to the cell till June 4, when he regained his freedom.

Mr. Enekwe said he was lucky to have come out of military detention alive. His rescue was made possible by family contacts within the SSS. It could not be confirmed but someone in the Ebonyi State Directorate of the SSS is believed to have contacted a senior SSS colleague in Anambra. He was told that his SSS savior came six times to the Onitsha military barracks but was each time told Mr. Enekwe was not in their custody.

Inefficient Human Right Desk

In February this year, the Nigerian Army announced the establishment of what it called the Army Human Right Desk. The Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Tukur Buratai, represented at the commissioning by the Chief of Civil-Military Affairs (CCMA), Rogers Nicholas, had said the establishment of the desk office was borne out of the increasing interest of the local and international human rights bodies on what the army was doing in the North East and other parts of the country.
He had added that the human right desk was facilitated by the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) and the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), assuring that the Nigerian Army under his leadership would investigate all cases of human rights complaints brought before it.

That has not happened. The litmus test was the invasion by soldiers same month of a prayer meeting inside the National High School Aba and the shooting dead of 22 unarmed pro-Biafra sympathizers whose bodies were later dumped in a borrow pit. The Army announced it had dispatched an investigation team to Aba but almost four months after, the outcome of the military investigation is yet to be made public.

Massacre on Heroes Day

PREMIUM TIMES gathered that May 30 every year is set aside since 1966 for remembrance of fallen heroes of Igbo Ethnic nationality. In 2014 and 2015 the day was marked in Enugu and Aba and by Igbo diaspora in Europe, America, Canada and some countries of Africa. Programme of events include lectures, church services and solemn procession. There are no street protests or armed activities.

It was further gathered that Onitsha was chosen for this year’s celebration. An expanse of land along Nkpor-Umuoji Road, close to ALO Aluminum Industry Ltd, was chosen as venue. The land belongs to a cooperative run by a traders’ association which had acquired same for the building of residential houses by its members.
The leadership of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) showed this newspaper a copy of a notification letter addressed to and sent to the Anambra State Commissioner of Police, Hosea Karma, requesting security protection at the venue.

The letter dated May 23, 2016 was signed on May 24, 2016 by Uchenna Asiegbu of the IOPB’s Directorate of State. A security source said the letter became the “working document” for counter-strategies against the Heroes Day celebration.

In the night of May 29, the eve of the anniversary, blockades were mounted on all roads leading into Onitsha by soldiers, some of whom were said to have come from 82 Division Enugu. The sealed roads were Onitsha-Owerri Expressway to stop IPOB/MASSOB supporters coming in from Imo, Abia, Port Harcourt and Akwa Ibom States; the Asaba-Onitsha Expressway to prevent travelers coming in from Lagos, Edo and northern part of the country; and the Onitsha-Enugu Expressway to contain those arriving from Enugu, Ebonyi, Cross Rivers, Benue and Kogi States.

Innocent travellers and IPOB sympathizers alike were allegedly pulled out of buses, verbally attacked, flogged with horsewhip and hit with the butt of the gun.
At the Delta end of the Niger Bridge, some passengers were shot at, arrested and taken away. Some night travellers, who were neither IPOB/MASSOB members nor aware of anything called Heroes Day were equally beaten up by soldiers.

Not a few, including women and teenagers, had to run into the bush and remained there all night.
The whistleblower told a trusted human rights campaigner that to the chagrin of anti-riot policemen and operatives of the SSS, rampaging soldiers “hijacked the security operation” kicking passengers, ordering them to lie face down on the dirt, shooting indiscriminately and mouthing ethnic slurs.
Meanwhile IPOB/MASSOB supporters who had entered Onitsha before the blockades made their way to the venue of the Heroes Day celebration.

In their hundreds they camped out in a primary school close to St. Edmunds Catholic Church at Nkpor-Agu. The pro-Biafra supporters said that minutes before 2am when most of them were sound asleep, soldiers invaded the school, shooting into the crowd. Those who could run did so but that did not stop the bullets hitting them from behind. The exact number of people killed in the primary school or left with bullet wounds is difficult to tell as most of the victims had arrived from different states and did not particularly know one another.
Survivors said the dead and some of the wounded were taken away in military trucks. Those arrested were packed into the same trucks carrying the dead and taken to the Onitsha Military Barracks.

The D-Day

In the morning of May 30, the D-Day, news of the killings of sleeping men at the school near St. Edmund Catholic Church had been heard in Onitsha, Asaba and different parts of the South East.
In Onitsha, dozens of trucks and vans filled with soldiers in combat gears raced down major roads and streets. Any gathering of three or more people was at risk of being fired upon.
Shootings were recorded at hotspots in Onitsha and environs including Nkpor Junction, Eke-Nkpor –Umuoji road, Afor-Nkpor to Onitsha-Enugu Expressway, Flyover Bridge by New Parts Market, Ojoto- Umuoji road, Ifite-Dunu, Ogbunike and Ogidi.

Following the blockade of every road leading to the event venue, the pro-Biafra leaders resorted to using mobile phones to coordinate their members. Thousands soon assembled simultaneously at three strategic spots: the Asaba-Abraka Junction by BridgeHead in Delta State, Ifite-Dunu and Ojoto/Umuoji. From these different spots, the three different crowds began to match into Onitsha with the open-air venue as destination.

Not everyone made it to the Heroes Day venue. Way before sunset, 14 critically injured citizens were writhing on the floor of the Nnewi Teaching Hospital, 15 at the Multicare Hospital in Nkpor and nine at St Mary’s Hospital, Nnewi.

Several private hospitals, including the Crown Hospital and St Michael Hospitals in Nkpor were equally recipients of gunshot emergencies. Same for medical facilities in Asaba and Okija.
The Acting Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) of Delta State, Charles Muka, had in a statement said that five members of the pro-Biafra group were killed by military officers after confrontations along the Asaba-Onitsha Expressway.

But that was only in Delta State. In the push from Delta into Anambra, two policemen were pushed into the River Niger. One drowned, the other was rescued. A Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) was stabbed to death in Onitsha. His name was given as Genesis Akagha. He was from Umu Ororonjo in Owerri Municipal, Imo State.
Family members told PREMIUM TIMES that the late Mr. Akagha was just transferred to Sapele in Delta State and was to resume at his new post the same week he was killed.

Victims’ identities

IPOB and the human rights organization, the Intersociety, said no less than 29 civilians were killed in Asaba alone. The Asaba victims included Ichoku Ndu, Ebere Obidike, Nwabueze Uzonna, Okey Roland, Chukwudi Ifenna, Isaac Uzochukwu, Eberima Aguh, Henry Gideon, Efion Apani, Abuchi Obi, Ozoemena Chukwuma, Lotenna Ifeajuna, Ifebuchi Okenwa, Wisdom Omota, Ejike Abunchukwu, Ozobu Ogbonna, Emeka Madueke, Paschal Gideon, Afam Onyeburu, Izu Onwubiewe, Okey Agubata, Celestine Nnamdi, Obieke Lotenna, Nwabueze Oti, Chijioke Ozoro, Nwadike Chibuzo, Azuka Ifeake, Chioma Nkemjika and Obiora Okonkwo.

PREMIUM TIMES also gathered that in addition to the Asaba casualties, killings recorded elsewhere in Onitsha and environs were as high as 90 deaths. Intersociety claims a death toll of over 120.
The names of some of the victims were given as Obi Nkemakonam, Ubani Nwenneakonam, Nwuzo Friday, Ilo Friday, Olisama Chukwuemeka, Awah Sopuruchi, Okoye Chinedu, Ezeilo Chuka, Onyeduna Ifesinachi, Nnamani Sunday, Chinonso Amadi, Tagbo Chibuzo, Anyanwu Chika, Egbe Johnson, Osukwe Ijeoma, Nkechukwu Ikechukwu, Kenneth Eni, Orjichukwu Chigozie, Solomon Izundu, Ebili Edward, Gabriel Onyedikachi, Ilo Ozoemena, Nwauju Charles, Onuoha Chidozie, Onyemaechi Nwaezeoma, Innocent Obodoekwe, Ifeanyi Azubuike, Adigwe Chukwudi, Ogochukwu Mbam, Obiosa Chukwueme, Ugochukwu Samuel, Onuoha Chigozie, Maduka Egwela, John Onuchukwu, Maduabuchi Onwukanjo, Izuchukwu Nwaogba, Nnamdi Okonkwo, Ibekwe Okechukwu, Felix Odianwu, Okafor Moses Madukasi and Egwu Joseph.

Like Tiananmen Square

Security operation of May 30 in Onitsha has variously been compared to the Tiananmen Square Massacre in China, in 1989. IPOB alleges ethnic cleansing and genocide.

Heads of the different security units involved in the Heroes Day operations included Col Isah M. Abdullahi who is the Onitsha Military Cantonment Commander; Commissioner of Police, Hosea Karma; Major C.O. Ibrahim of the Nigerian Military Police at Onitsha Army Barracks; Deputy Commissioner of Police J.B. Kokomo, who is the deputy commissioner in charge of operations in the Anambra State Police Command; DCP Makama, Second–in-command, Anambra State Police Command; Assistant Commissioner of Police H. Ezekiel who is the Onitsha Area Commander; Superintendent of Police Rabiu Garba, the DPO of Fegge Police Station; Superintendent of Police, Mark Ijaradu of Inland Town police unit; CSP Kayode Olabanji of Okpoko police station.

Officers of the Ogidi Police unit also participated in the security operations but PREMIUM TIMES was unable to confirm the identity of the Head of the unit.

Aside those killed or critically wounded, dozens of others have gone missing. Family members said they initially thought their missing relatives were among the over 100 people arrested and held in various detention facilities including the Onitsha Army Barracks, the Special Anti Robbery Squad (SARS) at Awkuzu, the Nigerian Prisons in Onitsha and the State CID at Awka.

They have gone from one detention centre to another; visited hospitals and mortuaries yet cannot find their loved ones. Following the Heroes Day rally, soldiers and SARS operatives have routinely invaded homes at midnight, abducting men from their beds. One of them is Chikezie Nwodo, a native of Enugu State.

Human rights organizations working in the South East said that before the rally, over 600 people were documented to have been arrested, tortured and being held without trial in prisons in different parts of the country.

Source

IPOB Press Release!!! NIGERIAN ARMY’S PREDICTABLY LAME RESPONSE TO AN INDICTING REPORT BY AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL ON THE KILLING OF UNARMED PEACEFUL BIAFRANS

04:25:00

Chibuike Nebeokike

Articles

June 12, 2016

Press Release

NIGERIAN ARMY’S PREDICTABLY LAME RESPONSE TO AN INDICTING REPORT BY AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL ON THE KILLING OF UNARMED PEACEFUL BIAFRANS

The blatantly illiterate and incompetent Nigerian Army responded to an indicting report by Amnesty International concerning the killing of unarmed and peaceful Biafrans which occurred on the 29th and 30th of May 2016 in their usual manner of name-calling and peddling of lies. In their response credited to one Col. H. A. Gambo, the Nigerian Army stated thus: “The attention of 82 Division Nigerian Army has been drawn to insinuations of misdeed being leveled by Amnesty International against security forces during the MASSOB/IPOB violent protests in Onitsha and environs on 31 May 2016. Accordingly, it is deemed imperative for the wrong and misleading impressions with which the public is being fed to be corrected once and for all.” Col. Gambo also noted that: “pro-Biafran protesters who had chosen the day to mark the 50th Anniversary of Biafra perpetrated a number of unimaginable atrocities to unhinge the reign of peace, security and stability in several parts of Anambra State.”

Before we go into the substance of the Army’s response, there is the need to correct the misinformation contained in their statement. First, the Biafran Heroes’ Day Remembrance is entirely an affair of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) under the leadership of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu and not any other group. Smuggling in the name of another group/s is trying to give credit to compromised organizations who are known to be sell-outs.

Secondly, the Biafran Heroes Remembrance Day has been and will continue to be on May 30th of every year. Irrespective of the day of the week that is 30th of May, the Remembrance Day will always be celebrated on that date. Therefore, it is the height of deception for the Nigerian Army to claim that IPOB celebrated the Remembrance Day on May 31, 2016. And lastly, we would like to remind humanity that the sovereign nation of Biafra was declared on May 30th 1967 and by May 30th 2016 we celebrated the 49th Anniversary of the heroism of the fearless Biafra Army that, against all odds, held out for 3 years against the combined onslaught of the British led foreign military coalition against Biafra.

For record purposes, we IPOB make it clear that Nigeria never defeated Biafra but instead it was foreign governments especially that of Harold Wilson, Labour Party Prime Minister of Britain, that convinced Russia and the United States to provide arms to Nigeria, deny Biafra legitimate access to weapons, and ensured international diplomatic shut-out of Biafra. On the 30th of May of each year, we remember these gallant men and women that gave their life that this generation of Biafrans might live.

Delving into the substance of the Army’s response; how can the decrepit Nigerian Army explain how people who were murdered in their sleep on the night of May 29th suddenly became violent? How can someone be sleeping and be protesting at the same time? What are the “unimaginable atrocities” that the Army cannot find a description for?

To justify the use of live ammunitions on Biafrans, Col. Gambo claimed that Biafrans: “employed firearms, crude weapons as well as other volatile cocktails such as acid and dynamites.” Where are the arms and ammunitions that the Army recovered from the “violent Biafrans”? Is the Army actually referring to the acid which they, the Nigerian Army, poured on the bodies of dead Biafrans as they lay in mass graves which was dug at the cemetery inside Onitsha Army Barrack? Is the Army aware that information leaked through Tony Nnaecheta who personally supervised the burying of over 100 dead bodies of Biafrans in mass graves inside the Onitsha Army barrack?

Col. Gambo in reference to the damning report, averred that Amnesty: “have decided to inundate the general public with an anecdote of unverified narratives in order to discredit the Nigerian Army in the course of carrying out its constitutional duties despite the inexplicable premeditated and unprovoked attacks in the hands of the violent pro-Biafran mob.” Also, in citing legal support for their heinous crime, Col. Gambo stated that: “The Nigerian Army in synergy with other security agencies under its constitutional mandates for Military Aid to Civil Authority (MACA) and Military Aid to Civil Power (MACP) acted responsively in order to de-escalate the deteriorating security scenario in-situ.” IPOB wish to state categorically that there is no place in the 320 sections and seven schedules of the constitution of Nigeria where the Army is empowered to shoot at unarmed peaceful civilians, especially those who are sleeping. The constitution of Nigeria has no such thing as MACA or MACP and we challenge Col. Gambo to point IPOB to the section or schedule of the Nigerian constitution where such mandates are explicitly stated.

From the report of Amnesty International, it is now crystal clear that Buhari and his murderous soldiers committed crimes against humanity against Biafrans. The International Criminal Court (ICC) will definitely rely on this report and other supporting reports and documents to ensure that justice is meted out to Buhari and his fellow blood thirsty murderers in the Nigerian Army.

Muhammadu Buhari was part of the marauding soldiers that killed over 2 million Biafrans at Owerri in 1968. Prior to the mass murder he committed at Owerri, Buhari was one of the soldiers that stormed the Government House in Ibadan on the 29th of July 1966 and cowardly assassinated his Commander-in-Chief General J. T. U. Aguiyi-Ironsi, a Biafran of Igbo extraction. Historically, Muhammadu Buhari is used to shedding blood and being the head of the armed forces of Nigeria, it is not a surprise that the Nigerian Army will go to any extent to carry out the dictates of their blood-thirsty commander.

The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) is also aware of the Army’s strategy of persistently associating IPOB with other organizations in order to belittle or smear IPOB’s hard-earned reputation and indirectly give credit to these compromised organizations. It is worthy to re-emphasize that 30th of May Heroes Remembrance Day is a project envisioned, designed, and delivered by IPOB under the leadership of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, not any other group. From the first outing in 2014 to the just-concluded one in 2016, the organizers and participants have been members of IPOB and not any other group or organization. This is the reason for the peaceful and disciplined manner that characterized the 30th May celebrations every year in more than 100 countries and territories around the world.

For the Nigerian Army, no amount of barefaced lies and misinformation will deceive the world from knowing the truth about the genocide committed by the Army against the people they are supposed to be protecting from external aggression. The Amnesty International report is spot-on and incontrovertible.
The army’s response is hogwash, fraudulent, and cannot stand the upcoming ICC imprisonment of Buhari, Buratai, Arase, Obiano, and other killers of unarmed and peaceful Biafrans.

Signed
Barrister Emma Nmezu Dr. Clifford Chukwuemeka IroanyaSpokesperson for IPOB Spokesperson for IPOB

Biafra:How Over 90 Biafran Heroes Day Activists Were Massacred By Security Forces & Buried In Military Cemetery Inside Onitsha Army Barracks

01:30:00

Chibuike Nebeokike

Archives

Genocide Across The Niger: How Over 90 Biafran Heroes Day Activists Were Massacred By Security Forces & Buried In Military Cemetery Inside Onitsha Army Barracks

(Onitsha Nigeria, 6^th of June 2016)-The leadership of International Society for Civil Liberties & the Rule of Law (Intersociety) is deeply alarmed and saddened over the rising shocking casualty figures from the last Monday (30^th of May, 2016) massacre and genocidal butchering of over 120 unarmed and nonviolent citizens of Southeast and South-south regions of Nigeria by security forces while converging in Onitsha to mark the 2016 session of the decades old “Igbo (Biafran) Heroes Day Anniversary”. The widespread State violence resulting to the genocide, was perpetrated by security forces through presidential and gubernatorial directives of President Mohammadu Buhari and Governor Willie Obiano of Anambra State and it was operationally led by Major C.O. Ibrahim of the Nigerian Military Police at Onitsha Army Barracks, for Nigerian Army; followed by DCP J.B. Kokomo (DC OPS, Anambra State Police Command) and DCP Makama (2i/c Anambra State Police Command) and ACP H. Ezekiel (Onitsha Area Commander) for Nigeria Police Force as well as operational heads of other members of the Anambra State Joint Security Taskforce.

The general coordination of the massacre operation was administratively overseen by the Onitsha Military Cantonment Commander, Col Isah M. Abdullahi (still the Onitsha Army commander) and Commissioner of Police, Mr. Hosea Karma. The Divisional Police Officers of Fegge (SP Rabiu Garba), CPS (CSP Jafaru), Inland Town (SP Mark Ijaradu), Okpoko (CSP Kayode Olabanji) and Ogidi also participated. The operation was conducted by the Joint Security Taskforce (JTF) of the Government of Anambra State, involving Nigerian Army in Onitsha; Nigeria Police Force, Anambra State Command and its SARS Unit; Nigerian Navy, Ogbaru Post; DSS, Nigerian Security & Civil Defense Corps and the National Drugs Law Enforcement; but was hijacked by soldiers of the Onitsha Military Cantonment with reinforcements from the 82^nd Division of the Nigerian Army in Enugu; leading to most of the killings perpetrated by soldiers; most of them jihadist citizens of northern Muslim extraction. The JTF security operations in the State are funded and chaired by Governor Willie Obiano in his capacity as the Chief Security Officer of Anambra State.

The vicarious and individual responsibilities of President Muhammadu Buhari, the Nigerian Army through its Chief of Army Staff (Lt Gen Tukur Buratai), the Nigeria Police Force through its IGP (Mr. Solomon Arase) and the Government of Anambra State through its Governor (Willie Obiano) are expressly contained in their violent orders and directives against peaceful assemblies and free speeches in Nigeria. The President, in his capacity as Commander-in-Chief of the Nigerian Armed Forces, recently issued a violent order to Nigeria’s security forces particularly the Nigerian Army, to “crush and quell” “unwarranted”, “provoked” and “uncivilized” assemblies of nonviolent and unarmed nature organized by self determination and indigenous rights activists in southeast and south-south Nigeria or in any part of the country. The Nigerian Army, on its part, has operationally tagged such nonviolent and constitutional assemblies as a “threat to national security” and “insurrection” or violent uprising against the Federal Republic of Nigeria. This is contained in its November 2015 operational guidelines.

The Nigeria Police Force, through its retiring IGP, Mr. Solomon Arase, has also issued two violent directives on 1^st December 2015 and 31^st May 2016; directing all its zonal and State heads in the Southeast and the South-south zones to “violently crack down on such assemblies”; “arrest and charge their organizers for treason”; and “disarm them and charge them for murder”. Till date, no pro Biafran or Igbo indigenous rights activist has been caught bearing arms or using or advocating violence in Nigeria or any part thereof. The Anambra State Police Commissioner, Mr. Hosea Karma, on his part, has also issued a public statement recently, claiming that “the activities (peaceful protests and processions) of MASSOB and IPOB in the State are one of his greatest security challenges”. Governor Willie Obiano, too, has severally described peaceful and nonviolent protests and processions organized by IPOB and its sister bodies as “activities of the hoodlums threatening the security of Anambra State”. There have been several invasions of meeting places of IPOB and its sister groups across the State including Nkpor and Obosi by SARS and soldiers, acting under the directives of the Governor and execution of their ethnic cleansing agenda against the Igbo Race.

All the violent orders and directives above mentioned, are unknown to the 1999 Constitution; which firmly guarantees democratic free speeches and freedoms of peaceful and lawful movement and assembly. Indigenous and self determination rights and their campaigns are also guaranteed by the African Charter on Human & Peoples Rights of AU of 1981 as well as the UN Universal Rights Declaration of 1948 and International Covenants on Civil & Political Rights and the Economic, Social and Cultural Rights of 1976; provided they are nonviolent and outside the purview of armed struggle and where armed struggle is resorted to, it is strictly guided by the Geneva Conventions of 1949, which include the Doctrines of Rules of Engagement, Use of Force and Self Defense. Nigeria is a State Party to the above rights treaties till date. These sacred rights and international obligations are also entrenched in the Principles and Purposes of the United Nations for the promotion and advancement of international peace and security as well as the basic standards of international law and other international human rights and humanitarian treaties.

From our updated casualty records, apart from over 120 unarmed and nonviolent activists so massacred, over 130 others were deadly injured with automatic rifles loaded and fired with live bullets; shot at close range and targeted at terminal parts of their bodies. Scores have gone missing till date while over one hundred of them were arrested and presently held in the Onitsha Army Barracks, the Special Anti Robbery Squad (SARS) at Awkuzu, the Nigerian Prisons in Onitsha and the State CID at Awka, etc. For instance, Twenty-Five of them were dumped in the Onitsha Prisons from Onitsha Army Barracks and 24 are presently at the State CID. Scores of others are also held at SARS in Awkuzu and the Onitsha Military Cantonment in Onitsha. These updates on casualty figures have arisen from facts gathered so far from our ongoing investigations as well as information ascertained from confided army, military police and DSS sources.

Generally, from our investigated and updated accounts, over 200 innocent, nonviolent and defenseless citizens of mostly Igbo Ethnic Nationality in Nigeria have been shot and killed by the security forces particularly the Nigerian Army since 30^th of August 2015; a period of nine months and under the Buhari’s Presidency. Sixty percent of them or at least 120 were massacred on 30th of May 2016 at Nkpor and its surroundings, Onitsha; and Asaba in Delta State. In the same genocide of 30^th of May, over 130 others were critically shot and wounded; out of which, 79 names are in our advocacy possession with 29 of them in Asaba alone.

Among those went missing is Citizen Chikezie Nwodo, who resides in Enugu. Over a dozen late night invasions and raids have also been carried out by soldiers and SARS operatives in various homes with scores of them arrested, detained or made to disappear. In all, over 200 innocent and unarmed Igbo indigenous rights and Biafran self determination activists have been killed the Buhari administration through its security forces and over 300 others have been deadly shot and wounded within the same period or in the past nine months. Over 600 have been arrested, tortured and detained unconstitutionally across the country with many languishing in different prisons under magistrate court remands after arraigned for capital related offences such as “treason and treasonable felonies”.

The most dangerous and shocking of it all is criminal and abominable resort to use of State coercive instruments by the Buhari administration to organize genocide against citizens of the Igbo Ethnic Nationality in Nigeria. The State atrocity of last Monday 30^th of May 2016 in Onitsha was and is still shocking and alarming. It can only be compared to “the Tiananmen Square Massacre” or “June 4 Democracy Massacre” in China in 1989. Yet, it is worse than the Tiananmen Square Massacre in that those that were massacred were not of the same tribe or massacred at the same; which is why Onitsha Massacre of 30^th of May 2016 is clearly “an act of ethnic cleansing and genocide”. Unlike other massacres of 2^nd and 17^th December 2015 in Onitsha and 9^th of February 2016 in Aba; the 30^th May 2016 massacre is chillingly horrifying in enormity and governmentally barbarous.

How Over 90 Igbo (Biafran) Heroes Day Celebrants Were Massacred & Mass-Buried Inside Onitsha Military Cemetery:

A DSS Source: The source who was part of the last Monday (30^th of May 2016) joint operation, hijacked by soldiers; told Intersociety that the massacre, leading to mass death in the hands of soldiers of over 120 unarmed and nonviolent citizens and injuring of over 130 others was well coordinated and a joint security operation sanctioned by the Government of Anambra State, which was hijacked and turned into a slaughter field by soldiers with ethnic cleansing agenda. That the operation started with medium use of force (outlawed) in the late night of 29^th of May 2016 and in the morning of 30^th of May 2016, the joint security taskforces moved from the Onitsha Army Barracks and stormed the event venue along Nkpor-Umuoji Road where they met hundreds of IPOB activists and others who had converged for the Biafran Heroes Day Anniversary. That they met many of them wailing and crying profusely over the soldiers’ late night invasion, shooting and killing of some of their members who squatted and slept at St Edmunds Catholic Primary School Premises.

That at that point, the JTF retreated to Onitsha Barracks. That their retreat infuriated the Onitsha Military Cantonment Commander, Col Issah M. Abdullahi, who ordered them back, saying that they were under a firm order from the C-in-C and the State Governor to quell the event and ensure it never took place. That he ordered them to clear the place and all roads, of those “miscreants and hoodlums” and “waste” them if they proved stubborn and recover their bodies as ordered by the Army and Government of Anambra State.

That with the firm directive of the Commander; the JTF, dominated by soldiers and led Major C.O. Ibrahim of the Nigerian Military Police; stormed the streets and the event venue. That while other members of the JTF were minimizing the use of force, soldiers recklessly opened fire at the activists at close range, shooting them indiscriminately and “wasting “ them mercilessly. That passerby and those in their homes and shops were not spared. That it got to a point where the activists having seen dozens of their comrades already laid dead refused to run and offered to be shot and killed. That they were massacred mercilessly by soldiers and that before God, none of the activists was armed.

That under heavy security and panicky atmosphere, the soldiers and police personnel ensured that all the dead corpses were recovered and taken to Onitsha Barracks. That by evening of 30^th of May 2016, at least 90 bodies of murdered Biafran Heroes Day celebrants had been taken to Onitsha Barracks and heaped in batches. That there are two cemeteries inside the Onitsha Army Barracks; originally reserved for fallen soldiers. That the 90 dead activists are most likely buried in one of the two cemeteries; preferably the one close to Yahweh Church inside the Barracks and that the possibility of the dead activists buried outside the Barracks is very slim.

That in same evening, when the massacre ended and JTF agencies returned to their bases, 19 citizens including 12 deadly shot victims and their seven relatives and friends were forcefully taken away from their hospital beds at the Nnewi Teaching Hospital and brought before the Commissioner of Police, CP Hosea Karma. That the CP addressed his security sub commanders, labeling them “arrested hoodlums threatening the security of the State”. That he ordered the 12 deadly shot victims to be returned to the Nnewi Teaching Hospital and ordered the SARS Commander to take away for “confessional interrogation” (torture) the seven arrested relatives and friends of the 12 deadly shot victims.

That the corpse of a dead activist was also brought to the State Command Headquarters at Awka same time and dumped in its premises; to be thrown off later in the night. That on Thursday, 2^nd of June 2016, between 10.30am and 11am the soldiers stormed the Nnewi Teaching Hospital again and abducted eight of the deadly shot victims from their hospital beds and took them to unknown destination till date. That on Friday, 3^rd of June 2016, five citizens with severe bullet wounds were transferred by soldiers from Onitsha Army Barracks to the State CID and that they were dumped inside its cell without any form of treatment till date.

A Military Source: That the bodies of over 90 murdered Biafran Heroes Day celebrants and other members of the public were given secret mass burial inside the Barracks in one of the two military cemeteries on Wednesday, 1^st of June 2016. That it was a noon event under tight security. That the secret mass burial attracted top army and police officers including DCP OPS (J.B. Kokomo) and that Anambra State Government was represented by its Commissioner for Information, Mr. Tony Nnacheta, who arrived the Barracks at about 11.30am. That a number of graves were dug and the remains of over 90 murdered celebrants dumped and buried in their numbers.

A Military Police Source: That indeed over 90 dead celebrants and activists received a secret mass burial in one of the two military cemeteries located inside Onitsha Barracks, near Yahweh Church, leading to Obosi Town. That the secret mass burial was performed moments after the arrival of the representative of the Government and Governor of Anambra State, Mr. Tony Nnacheta, who is also the State Commissioner for Information. That he also supervised the graves before the commencement of the secret mass burial. That a total of fifteen graves were dug with some shallow and others deep and that some graves contained as much as ten corpses and others as low as five depending on the depth of each grave.

A DSS Source Corroboration: That closed calls made for certainty clearly confirmed the mass burial inside the Onitsha Army Barracks and on the said date, time, space and place.

A Rescued Citizen’s Corroboration: Mr. Henry Ibebuike Enekwe is an electrical engineer and 32 years old. He was declared missing in our Coalition (Southeast Based Coalition of Human Rights Organizations) public statement of 3^rd of June 2016 after his abduction by soldiers of the Onitsha Military Cantonment in the morning of 30^th of May 2016 on his way to Enugu, from his Eke-Nkpor base. Engineer Henry was rushing to Enugu to seal a house wiring contract with a Lagos based businessman. Happily, Engineer Henry Enekwe regained his freedom in the evening of Saturday, 4^th of June 2016, following our advocacy intervention and a distress call by the Ebonyi State Directorate of DSS to its Anambra State counterpart, which led to his rescue from five days captivity and torture in the hands of his soldiers’ captors.

Engineer Henry Enekwe’s younger sister and her husband are serving DSS operatives. He had hours after his release, spoken to Intersociety and confirmed the mass burial inside the Onitsha Barracks of over 90 murdered Biafran Heroes Day celebrants on Wednesday, 1^st of June 2016. He further told Intersociety that some soldiers of northern origin guarding their cells, had in the night of same Wednesday, 1^st of June 2016, around 8.30pm, violently or harshly communicated to them in their cells: “we don give your brothers mass burial today and if you people mess up, you will join them and nothing will happen”.

Rescued Citizen’s Account: Narrating his ordeal in the hands of his captor-soldiers, Engineer Henry Enekwe told Intersociety that he regretted bringing his young son into this country called “Nigeria” where beasts are perpetually in charge of the affairs of Nigerian people. That the greatest shock of his life was his encounter with soldiers on 30^th of May 2016 in front of the street leading to St Edmunds Catholic, Nkpor-Agu. He said before his very eyes, three innocent citizens going home from an early morning church service at St Edmunds Catholic were shot and killed by soldiers.

That the soldiers, having arrested him and pushed him into their military truck, corked their guns and pointed them at the worshippers coming from the Church and violently shouted at them, forcing three of them to run for safety out of fear and panic, only for the soldiers to open fire on them, killing them instantly. That the soldiers were of Hausa-Fulani tribe and that they recovered the corpses and dumped them in their van and zoomed off to the Onitsha Military Barracks, in company of himself and others abducted alive. That he sat beside the dead corpses and the soldiers kept mocking them and their tribe.

That when they got to the Barracks, he saw a heap of dead bodies and those who were deadly wounded were dumped on top of dead ones. That the soldiers moved him, alongside others to open cells from where he saw more dead bodies being brought in and dumped. That later in the evening, the corpses were moved in the direction of a certain nursery and primary school inside the Barracks, from where they were never sighted again till the cell guards violently mentioned to them that they had been given mass burial.

That in the early hours of Friday 3^rd of June 2016, around 1.30am, soldiers stormed their cells and took away 27 of his fellow captives and six deadly wounded citizens to unknown destinations. That the abducted citizens were never returned to the Barracks till Saturday evening, 4th of June 2016, when he regained his freedom. That while in the captivity of the soldiers of the Onitsha Military Cantonment, himself and others were tortured every morning and soldiers called it “morning tea”; whereby each of them was laid on a bench chair, flogged with “koboko”, with sachet water poured on the parts of their bodies where flogging or torture was being inflicted. That many innocent citizens were still being held in the Barracks amidst torture as at the time he regained his freedom. That the DSS operatives that rescued him told him that they had been in the Barracks six times with his name and soldiers kept denying the existence of such name among their captives. That torture was a routine and the wounded were left unattended to and that extra judicial killing of some captives including those with terminal gunshot wounds may most likely have taken place.

79 Names Of 130 Deadly Shot Victims:

Onitsha Zone: Obi Nkemakonam, Ubani Nwenneakonam, Nwuzo Friday, Ilo Friday, Olisama Chukwuemeka, Awah Sopuruchi, Okoye Chinedu, Ezeilo Chuka, Onyeduna Ifesinachi, Nnamani Sunday, Chinonso Amadi, Tagbo Chibuzo, Anyanwu Chika, Egbe Johnson, Osukwe Ijeoma, Nkechukwu Ikechukwu, Kenneth Eni, Orjichukwu Chigozie, Solomon Izundu, Ebili Edward, Gabriel Onyedikachi, Ilo Ozoemena, Nwauju Charles, Onuoha Chidozie, Onyemaechi Nwaezeoma, Innocent Obodoekwe, Ifeanyi Azubuike, Adigwe Chukwudi, Ogochukwu Mbam, Obiosa Chukwueme, Ugochukwu Samuel, Onuoha Chigozie, Maduka Egwela, John Onuchukwu, Maduabuchi Onwukanjo, Izuchukwu Nwaogba, Nnamdi Okonkwo, Ibekwe Okechukwu, Felix Odianwu, Okafor Moses Madukasi and Egwu Joseph.

Some of the deadly shot victims who ran out of hospitals to their homes courtesies of their friends and relatives, following incessant invasions of hospitals and their abductions by soldiers are Chidi Nwigwe, Uchenna Odaa, Ezeaka Ejike, Chima Anamuasonye and Nwaowe John. Some who were rescued by their friends and relatives and taken to Abia State for safety and adequate treatments are Ifeanyi C. Azubuike and Ugochukwu Nnamu and some of those rescued and taken to Enugu State are Ifeanyi Ogumma and Arinze Aja. Dozens of others with deadly gunshot wounds who escaped for safety have not been traced till date. Some may have died in the process owing to untreated wounds and other medical challenges.

The names of 29 citizens, out of those that were terminally shot by soldiers and police in Asaba are Ichoku Ndu, Ebere Obidike, Nwabueze Uzonna, Okey Roland, Chukwudi Ifenna, Isaac Uzochukwu, Eberima Aguh, Henry Gideon, Efion Apani, Abuchi Obi, Ozoemena Chukwuma, Lotenna Ifeajuna, Ifebuchi Okenwa, Wisdom Omota, Ejike Abunchukwu, Ozobu Ogbonna, Emeka Madueke, Paschal Gideon, Afam Onyeburu, Izu Onwubiewe, Okey Agubata, Celestine Nnamdi, Obieke Lotenna, Nwabueze Oti, Chijioke Ozoro, Nwadike Chibuzo, Azuka Ifeake, Chioma Nkemjika and Obiora Okonkwo. In all, out of at least 130 that were deadly shot and wounded, 79 are cited.

Also, out of over 120 Biafran Heroes Day celebrants and other members of the public massacred by soldiers and their cohorts on 30^th of May 2016, over 90 of their corpses were abducted by soldiers and buried inside the Onitsha Army Barracks military cemetery. As it stands now, the corpses of ten of over 120 murdered activists are presently in the custody of their families and some mortuaries. The ten corpses of over 120 murdered activists under reference are part of those saved from being abducted by soldiers. Out of the ten, six have been identified by name and traced to their families. They include four saved in Asaba: late Citizens Hero Vincent, Okeke Obiora, Apam Oyi and Nwabueze Uzonna) and two saved in Onitsha: late Citizens Ernest Uzor and Chika Uka. The identities of four others are yet to be ascertained and they include two at Crown Hospital in Nkpor, one at St Charles Borrowmeo Hospital in Onitsha and one sighted at the State Police Command Headquarters at Awka in the evening of Monday, 30^th of May 2016. Investigations and searches are continuing.

It is recalled that we had earlier condemned the basket-load of lies cooked up by the trio of the Nigerian Army, the Nigeria Police Force and the Government of Anambra State over their vicarious and individual ignoble and abominable roles in the massacre under reference. We also promised to rubbish their lies and falsehoods with undiluted facts and figures so as to de-contaminate and de-pollute the minds of all Nigerians and the international watchers who might have been fed and contaminated with same as well as shaming the serial liars including the Government Of Governor Willie Obiano and Anambra State Police Command which have continued with their gargantuan falsehood and brazen denials. Attachments below contain over 45 photos depicting the State horror and Genocide across the Niger under reference. Each of the photos is titled and pictorially described. They range from military trucks conveying recovered corpses of massacred activists to Onitsha Army Barracks to those of dead and deadly wounded victims, etc.