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• One Killed, Scores Injured at IPOB Rally for Trump, Kanu in P’Harcourt

By Ernest Chinwo in Port Harcourt

At least one person was killed and scores of supporters of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) wounded yesterday as the pro-Biafra group defied security agencies and marched through major streets of Port Harcourt to celebrate the inauguration of Donald Trump as the 45th President of the United States of America and also call for the release of their leader, Nnamdi Kanu.

However, the police have denied knowledge of the death of any IPOB protester. The state Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO ), Nnamdi Omoni (DSP ), however said the police arrested 63 persons who participated in the illegal rally. He also said the police used intelligence it gathered before the protest to ensure that commercial activities were not crippled in the metropolis as planned by the IPOB protesters.

 IPOB’s spokesman, Emma Powerful, however alleged that no fewer than 11 members of the group were killed by security men during the rally.

A security source, who did not want to be mentioned, said the shooting incident happened at about 10amalong Aba Road by Okporo Road and Artillery junction when a joint team of security operatives shot at the advancing demonstrating youths in an attempt to disperse them, adding that the deceased and those injured were later carried away by security men.

IPOB members, drawn from Abia, Akwa Ibom, Anambra, Cross River Imo and some parts of Rivers State, who were clad in black, had converged on Aba Road with the aim of marching into Port Harcourt to celebrate the inauguration of Trump.

 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.

 The procession was very peaceful until hoodlums infiltrated the crowd and started harassing 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 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 had 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-Harcourt.

However, in spite of the incident, the protesters still marched through Ikwerre Road, Kaduna Street and other areas of Port Harcourt.

Meanwhile, some soldiers detailed to stop the peaceful demonstration by pro-Biafra agitators, brutalised the Acting South-South Editor of The Authority newspaper, Mr. Willie Etim, while trying to take pictures of the protesting youths.

Narrating his ordeal in the hands of the personnel of the Nigerian Army who were fully armed in their numbers, Etim said, while on his way to the office, he noticed the massive crowd and he decided as a journalist to cover the protest, only to be attacked by some soldiers.

His words: “At about 10am today, I was on my way to the office when I ran into a huge traffic holdup between Waterlines and Garrison bus stop in Port Harcourt. One lane was blocked and I was wondering what would have caused such massive crowd.

“I got closer and discovered that it was Pro Biafra protest in solidarity for the inauguration of Donald Trump and also to draw the world attention to the Biafra situation in Nigeria.

“Having gotten a brief from some of the protesters, I went further to take a picture of the protesting youths; unknowingly, one of the soldiers detailed to quell the protest sighted me as I was taking the picture. Immediately, three of the soldiers walked up to me, asked me who authorised me to take the picture. It was then I introduced myself to them that I am a journalist.

“One of them flared up and said ‘what stupid journalist’ and seized my phone which I used in snapping the picture and smashed it on the ground.

“When I attempted to plead with them, to allow me pick my Sim card, they refused and threatened to shoot me if I alight from the car, as the two of them pointed their guns at me from the driver and passenger sides of the window. When I insisted to pick my Sim card, one of them hit my car with the butt of his gun.

“Afterwards, the soldier also hit me with the butt of his gun. It was then I got scared and narrowly escaped from the scene to my office.”