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Nigerian soldiers and policemen storm Okigwe, harrass and maim indigenes
By Chris Ikwunze

On Friday December 1, 2000, scores of heavily armed troops stormed Okigwe town, Imo State (Nigeria) in what observers believe might be a measure by the Federal Government to "flush out" the leader of the Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB), Ralph Uwazurike and his supporters. The soldiers arrived Okigwe town at about 1.30 p.m. in four military trucks and about 30 mobile policemen came in two trucks and one armoured personnel carrier (APC). The town was immediately surrounded by the troops who fired sporadically into the air, driving residents into the bush. Uwazurike's house located at No.153 Owerri Road, Okigwe was ransacked and his aged father reportedly manhandled. His bus parked at the premises had its four ties shot at by the soldiers.

The popular Penco Hotels, Okigwe (Imo State) was also ransacked by the soldiers apparently thinking that the MASSOB leader was hiding there. The entire workers of the hotel were later arrested and detained when they could not produce Uwazurike. About six cars parked at the hotel premises were shot at by the soldiers who have so far arrested about 20 persons believed to be MASSOB members.

However, Uwazurike himself has evaded arrest as he was said to have left the town shortly before the soldiers arrived. Friday, the town appeared deserted as residents had either run into the bush or to neighbouring, Uturu, Abia State, while business and other commercial activities have been paralysed.

When THISDAY visited Okigwe at about 3p.m Friday, abandoned corpses littered the town while indigenes were running helter skelter. The menacing soldiers were all over town firing into the air and into the tyres of moving vehicles. Although the official reason for the troop action could not be established as at press time, observers believe it might not be unconnected with the clash Tuesday between residents of the town and policemen who had wanted to arrest Uwazurike.

The angry residents had attacked the policemen as well as smashed their vehicles when they rounded up some occupants of Uwazurike's house because they could not locate the MASSOB leader. Reacting to the deployment of troops, President of the congress for the Liberation of Ikwerre Ethnic Nationality, attorney Uche Okwukwu described it as "sheer provocation of MASSOB as there was no war situation. "MASSOB is not an armed struggle, there is no war situation, why deploy troops to kill defenceless civilians", Okwukwu queried.

Meanwhile, pan Igbo socio-cultural group, "Nchikota Umunna" has flayed the Federal Government over the recent appointment of chairman and members into federal boards, parastatals and commission which they described as lopsided against the Igbos.

The co-ordinator of the group, Chief Iworisha Oputa, told newsmen Friday in Owerri, that "out of 137 chairmanship positions, 19 of which as of right should have been allocated to Ndigbo, only five were given to Imo in inconsequential parastatals that have no relevance to the development of Igbos". According to him, qualitative and quantitative balance for which the federal character commission was set up, was absolutely neglected by the government.

The group reminded the Federal Government that the nation was by consensus, based on a tripod of East, West and North which they said had dominated the structure of the country's politics, and that no attempt should be made to change the balance to the disadvantage of the East. "This tripod was based on equity, justice, fairplay and opportunities for all Nigerians irrespective of tribe, language, religion affiliation and others", he said.

He lamented that more than 30 years after the civil war, Ndigbo were still being subjected to deprivations as evidence in the total neglect in infrastructural facilities and lack of representation among others.

Condemning Ndigbo ministers, advisers and others who have held public positions since the Babangida regime to date for not living up to expectations, the group requested the Federal Government to give urgent attention to the reconstruction of federal roads in the east and to build infrastructural facilities in Igboland.

Iwunze is a reporter for the Lagos-based This Day newspaper/December 3, 2000

REACTION
It's a shameful act of banditry by Obasanjo's government
By Francis Nnamdi Elekwachi-Mpuomigbo

This banditry by the Nigerian government led by former military dictator Olusegun Obasanjo (which is really more a disguised military junta) must be condemned by all Igbos and all Nigerians who cherish their freedom and fundamental rights. This continued use of brutal military force (as Obasanjo did in the town of Odi and now in the peaceful town of Okigwe) by a supposedly civilian government, to attempt to stifle peaceful free speech and democratic expression and association can only force otherwise peaceful people and organizations into active self-defense.

Ndi-Igbo must now pass their verdict on the local collaborators, who continue to sustain the Obasanjo-Arewa invasion of Igboland, by voting them out of power come 2003. Ndigbo must now ensure that only Igbos who are committed to Igbo unity, self-determination, autonomy and self-government are henceforth voted into power in Igboland.

This dastardly act in Okigwe and killing of innocent civilians by Obasanjo's regime must be condemned and all the individual soldiers, police, officers and those who issued the orders must be traced, tracked down and made to pay the price of their debauchery. Ndi-Igbo and all Nigerians must not let these vandals go unpunished.

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