Scores Wounded As Pro-Biafra Agitators, Soldiers Clash In Rivers

Scores of members of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) were yesterday wondered when they clashed with men of the 6 Division, Nigeria Army, Port Harcourt, along Aba Road in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital.

IPOB members, drawn from Abia, Akwa Ibom, Anambra, Cross River Imo and some parts of Rivers State had converged along Aba Road with the aim of marching into Port Harcourt to celebrate the inauguration of Donald Trump as the 45th President of the United States of America.

The protesters, who were also calling for the release of detained IPOB leader and director of Radio Biafra, Nnamdi Kanu, and were carrying American, Israeli and Biafran flags and chanting “All we are saying, give us Biafra”, marched through the streets towards the city centre.

LEADERSHIP Weekend gathered the procession was very peaceful until hoodlums infiltrated the crowd and started harrasing motorists and commuters, blocking an entire stretch of the dual-carriage Aba-Port Harcourt, as well as snatching handsets and handbags from commuters.

However, the event turned bloody around Artillery Junction area of Aba Road, when soldiers arrested no fewer than seven of the protesters, leading to a clash between them and the security agents.

In the melee that followed, scores of protesters, who were mostly youths were received gunshot wounds, with some in critical condition.

In a short message service (SMS) to newsmen, IPOB’s spokesman, Emma Powerful, alleged that no fewer than 11 members of the pro-Biafra group have been shot dead by security operatives.

The SMS reads, “They have attacked our people; 11 have been confirmed dead, many others have bullet wounds.”

Powerful claimed that the attack was carried out by the police, the army and the Department of State Services (DSS), beside First Artillery junction, Port-Hacourt.

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