Tuesday, October 20, 2015 12:34 pm
Biafran-flag waving protesters stormed the streets of Port Harcourt, Rivers State, southern Nigeria, over the continuous detention of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, the director of the pirate radio, Radio Biafra.
The protest paralysed commercial activities in the oil rich-city as the procesion made its way towards the Government House.
Kanu was arrested on Saturday at a hotel in Lagos. He was scheduled to travel to London.
Kanu’s lawyer, Egechukwu Obetta that kanu has been granted bail.
But the founder of the Indigenous People of Biafra is being held as he is yet to fulfil his bail term of N2million and a surety in like sum, who must be a civil servant on Grade level 16.
His arrest had provoked criticisms from his group and the Movement for the Actualisation of Biafra, MASSOB.
Obetta lamented the treatment given to his client while in custody, saying that he was put in the same cell with terrorists despite his life threatening health challenges.
According to Obetta, Kanu, leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) is selective to delicacies, adding that he (Kanu) vowed never to eat any food served by the Federal Government of Nigeria.
The protesters in Port Harcourt today claimed to be members of Movement for the Actualisation of Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB).
They marched through major streets such as Ikwerre Road,through Ikokuo Junction,the popular motor spares parts market in the city. Their number overwhelmed detachment of Policemen who attempted to stop the protest, by firing a tear gas into the crowd.
They were however undeterred.
They claimed that the Federal Government was marginalizing the Igbo ethnic nationality in Nigeria.
The protesters carried twigs,green leaves, placards and banners with varying inscriptions like:‘ ‘Biafra must stand’, ‘Biafra is my home’, ‘We need Biafra’, ‘Zoo must fall’, ‘Biafra will stand’, ‘Biafra for life’, ‘Biafra needs freedom’ ‘A state of Biafra needed’.Biafra or Death’ and others.
Okoro Chukwu,who was one of protesters boasted that: “What they did today is a welcome development and commendable. It showed that the Igbo people are one, no matter where they are residing and who they are. It is a non-violent agitation and we will never give up in the struggle”.
*Additional report by Okafor Ofiebor/in Port Harcourt
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4 Comments
Paint ? It is a pirate radio because it was not licensed anywhere and has no recognition in Nigeria other than it being proscribed
This is the illegitimate Governor of Rivers State looking for all sort of means to hold onto a stolen election…plutocratic desperado party’s antics. Rivers State people have nothing to do with MASSOB and my friends from Okrika, Port Harcourt and ever nook and carnies of Rivers State tells me that Rivers people have nothing to do with this wannabe Biafra Oligarchs
Pirate radio generally describes the unlicensed broadcast of FM radio, AM radio, or short wave signals over a wide range. In some cases radio stations are deemed legal where the signal is transmitted, but illegal where the signals are received—especially when the signals cross a national boundary.
Source: Wikipedia.
Mr. Kennedy, is Radio Biafra licensed to operate by NCC?
The editor of this post must b foolish to paint Radio Biafra as pirate radio