he Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has accused the army of killing five of its members and injuring 20 others during a meeting Oshimili North Local Government Area of Delta State.
In a statement on Sunday by its Media and Publicity Secretary, Mr Emma Powerful, IPOB claimed that the soldiers stormed the venue of the meeting and opened fire on its members.
They alleged that some Hausa-Fulani people living in the area had informed soldiers from the same tribe about the meeting.
IPOB said, “This is another senseless massacre of our members. Does it mean that we do not have freedom to meet and interact with our members? Will the military say we were demonstrating? Did anybody complain that the IPOB members having the meeting were disturbing the peace of the public?
“Organizations and community unions have meetings on Sundays.Why will IPOB members having a meeting in a public school be shot? If it is a secret meeting that is aimed at achieving an evil plan, it would have been in a secret place, not in an open compound like a primary school.
“We will never accept that. We must know who the Hausa-Fulani people that gave the information to their military brothers are and who they are working for and what is their motive for giving such information. They must tell us how many times they have been shot by the military while they were having their meetings.
“This is another senseless military massacre that we will not accept. We must never take that. Somebody must pay for this. We will never allow this one go unpunished. We have taken too much of these military senseless massacres.
“We will know if it is only the Hausa-Fulani that are in Nigeria and whether they are the only people that will live in this country. We will know whether they are the only people that will live, meet and move freely in Nigeria. We will see to the end of this idiotic massacre. This country does not belong to Hausa-Fulani people only.
“It is time they pay with their own blood, we have warned that nobody should provoke us to carry arms but it seems the time is ripe for that now . We must defend ourselves.”
However, the Police Public Relations Officer of the Delta State Police command, Andrew Aniamaka said some Biafra militants tried to disposess a soldier of his rifle.
He said one of them was killed during an exchange of fire with the soldiers who came to rescue their colleague.
