By Martha Dike, Public Affairs Analyst

Not fewer than 15 persons were reported dead after members of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, were intercepted by Nigerian
Police Taskforce with sophisticated ammunitons at Ibo National high school during a prayer session organised by IPOB for the protest of prolonged detention of their leader Mazi Nnamdi Kalu at Aba in Abia State on the 9th February 2016.
 
Eye witnesses say military shooting and the  brutality that followed was as sudden as it was dramatic as IPOB youths made frantic attempts to  scamper to safety, jumping over prostrate bodies of their friends who had been cut down by  bullets.

A Biafran youth who escaped with injuries spoke to this writer
under the condition of anonymity, saying the shooting by soldiers and brutality that followed was as sudden as it was dramatic as IPOB Members frantically scampered for safety amidst rain of gunshots.

“In the morning, we gathered at the National High School for prayers and to listen to commendation address by our Coordinator in Aba. While the prayers were on, we noticed police patrol vans and because we locked the gate they could not enter. They attempted to scale the fence but could not. Shortly after, soldiers came in Hilux vans and scaled the fence.
When they arrived, they demanded to see our Coordinator but we resisted them. The next thing we heard were gunshots. I cannot say exactly how many of our youths were dead because there was stampede and people were on the ground, some hit by bullets.

A statement from the Eastern Division of the Nigerian Army has said that “the  shooting was only aimed at stopping some of the youths who became unruly and made attempts to hit the soldiers on the fence with stones.

As at the time of filing this report the Nigerian Police Force apprehended most of the agitators and they are still in police custody and many are at large which has prompted the Nigerian Police Force to declare wanted those at large who are the top pioneers of the movemen, stating that anybody with useful information about the whereabouts of Okwuchukwu Sunday(M)Aba Coordinator, Obasi Emmanuel(M)Enugu Coordinator,Chinenye Okafor(F)Onitsha Coordinator, Chimezie Michael Korie(M) Owerri Coordinator, and Chukwura Okechukwu(M) Asaba Coordinator. should report at the nearest police station and will be handsomely rewarded by the government.

Thus, one major concern, which we wish to address in the present article, is that our criticisms of the pro-Biafra youth group should be such as to dialogue with them, build them up, cheer them up towards meaningful engagements  and encourage them to continue their quest for freedom and self-determination of their people but always as demanded by the law. That is, to follow the international standard for struggle for freedom and self-determination of indigenous peoples as set out in all the known international laws and as practiced in civilized world, and many democratic countries today.

That our criticism of the pro-Biafra youth group should be constructive, not destructive.

Note: I write on this issue of national importance as a concerned citizen. I have no relationship whatsoever with the youth group in question. My only concern here is how to make our country work again, contribute through my writings on how to help the leadership of the country find a modus operandi for purposeful leadership and workable political system. We can achieve this if we have the political will to drive the process and get our priorities right.