Mazi Nnamdi Kanu: protest for his freedom

Nigerian police said they arrested more than 80 members of a Biafran separatist movement  during one of a series of protests across the oil-rich southeast against the detention of the group’s leader.

The 78 men and five women were arrested at  a motorpark in Yenagoa, the capital of Bayelsa state, “because they want to foment troubles and unleash mayhem” said Bayelsa police spokesman Anisim Butswat.

In Delta state, police fired teargas to disperse dozens of pro-Biafra agitators who staged a protest rally in Asaba, the capital.

The protesters said they were in solidarity with the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).

Some members of the group were arrested for blocking the Asaba-Benin expressway.

They chanted songs calling for the unconditional release of Nnamdi Kanu, a member of the Pro –Biafra group and founder of the pirate Radio Biafra.

However, a police source told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that the arrested members were later released following “an order from above”.

Members of the group had poured into the Asaba-Benin expressway, blocking a large portion of the ever-busy road, from Summit Junction to Coker Junction axis in Asaba.

The group held up vehicular movement on the road for hours, forcing many transporters to make a U-turn, diverting into Asaba main town, thereby causing a major gridlock.

However, police patrol teams from the Delta Police Command confronted the protesters, using tear gas to disperse them.

One of the protesters, Mr. Uche Obiakor, told NAN that the police intervention in the rally was injustice to the group, saying that members of IPOB were on a peaceful rally.

“What the police did today is a great injustice to the Biafra people because we are not armed neither did we attack anybody.

“We are just on a peaceful protest for the unconditional release of our leader, Nnamdi Kanu.

“We want Nnamdi Kanu to be set free, and all charges against him dropped unconditionally,“ he said.

The spokesperson of the state Police Command, DSP Charles Muka, confirmed the incident to NAN on phone .

He, however, declined to comment on the arrest and subsequent release of the IPOB members.

“What I can tell you is that the police are on top of the situation. We are on it; that is all I can say for now,” Muka said

Secessionist feeling has continued to simmer in the region since the Biafra separatist rebellion tipped the country into a 1967-70 civil war that killed an estimated 1 million people.

The Indigenous Peoples of Biafra group called for a “million man march” on Friday after their leader Nnamdi Kanu was arrested in Nigeria on charges relating to broadcasts by his Radio Biafra station and his request for arms and ammunitions to found a new Biafra Republic. Kanu was arrested in Lagos in October.