Hours later signals and killer instructions were given to the soldiers of the 302 Artillery Regiment Onitsha by the then GOC of the Enugu 82nd Division and the Army headquarters in Abuja as well as by the then Inspector General of Police (Solomon Arase) for the protesters to be violently crushed or quelled; leading to instant death of at least 13 persons and injuring of not less than 30 others.
The then Inspector General of Police specifically directed the senior police commanders in the Southeast and South-south zones to “apply maximum force and quell the protesters”.
2ND DECEMBER 2015 DEATH TOLL:
A total of not less than 13 persons were killed and among them are: Miss Anthonia Nkiruka Ikeanyionwu (a student of the Federal College of Education (Technical) at Umunze in Anambra State); Kenneth Ogadinma ( from Abia State), Chima Onoh (from Enugu State), Angus Chikwado (from Anambra State) and Miss Felicia Egwuatu (from Anambra State).
The remaining eight citizens shot and killed by soldiers of the Onitsha Military Cantonment led by Col Isa Abdullahi Maigari were taken away to undisclosed locations till date.
17th December 2015 Post Court Judgment Jubilation Massacre at Onitsha Niger Bridgehead: Hours after an Abuja Federal High Court presided over by Hon Justice Ademola Adeniji delivered a ruling ordering for unconditional release of Citizen Nnamdi Kanu, jubilant IPOB members numbering between 60 and 100 or more went into spontaneous celebration and matched from Nkpor to Ojukwu Statue at Onitsha Niger Bridgehead where they met some soldiers of northern Muslim extraction who opened fire on them, killing not less than 12 of them and injuring at least 15 others.
All the dead bodies of those killed and some injured ones were taken away by soldiers to Onitsha Army Barrack while others were rescued and saved by friends and relatives. They were later taken to or deposited at some private hospital including the Multicare Hospital at Nkpor.
The murderous soldiers later traced the Multicare Hospital where the injured were taken to for treatment and raided it around 10.08pm in the late night of 17th December 2015 and abducted 17 persons including the injured, their friends and relatives.
Those abducted included those the soldiers arrested at the scene of the massacre. The killer soldiers under their commander then (Col Isah Abdullahi Maigari) later returned 11 of those they abducted to the hospital. The returned were those at the point of death requiring urgent lifesaving treatments before they were abducted by soldiers.
Sadly, four of them later died in the hospital due to loss of so much blood and their abduction by soldiers. Those held at the Barracks were detained for days until we intervened leading to their release at the State CID where they were later taken to and dumped.
Three out of those killed and taken away by soldiers were later dumped at the Onitsha General Hospital on 21st December 2015. Their corpses were recovered and moved to their families in February 2016 through the joint efforts of our leadership, IPOB officials and their families, leading to their interment in their respective communities in Ebonyi and Abia State sometime in February and March 2016.
17TH DECEMBER 2015 DEATH TOLL:
Not less than 12 persons were killed and among them are Citizens Okwu Friday, Michael Nweke (37) (from Ezza North LGA) in Ebonyi State; buried on 11th of March 2016; Peter Chukwuma Nwankwo (26) (from Ezza South LGA) in Ebonyi State; buried on 11th of March 2016, Mathew Ndukwe Kanu (25) (from Akanu-Ohafia LGA) in Abia State; buried on 12th of March 2016 and Chigozie Ezeji (32) (from Idemili North LGA) in Anambra State.
The names above mentioned did not include three others that died in the hospital during treatments. A total of 27 persons with terminal bullet wounds were taken to the Multicare Hospital alone for treatment following the 2nd and 17th December 2015 massacre; out of which 4 died.
Several others with terminal bullet wounds also ran away from hospitals to their private homes for self-medications fearing their abductions by soldiers.
9th February 2016 Massacre at Aba: Members of IPOB in their hundreds had gathered in the premises of former Igbo National College now renamed National High School. The gathering was for prayers and singing rally for the release of Citizen Nnamdi Kanu and others.
Few hours before noon of 9th February 2016, the Abia State Police Command and its Aba Area Command then headed by CP (now DIG) Habila Hosea and ACP Peter Nwagbara respectively ordered their personnel to storm the place; saying they received a distress call and matching order from then IGP, Solomon Arase.
About thirty minutes later soldiers of 144 Battalion at Ukwa Ngwa near Aba, then commanded by Lt Col Sidi Umar Kasim, SSS and naval personnel and other members of the Abia State Joint Security Taskforce mobilized by Governor Okezie Ikpeazu stormed the place.
Moments after their arrival, soldiers took battle positions and corked their rifles loaded with live bullets and seconds later, they opened fire at the IPOB crowd, killing dozens instantly and injuring over 30 others.
As the survivors were scampering for safety and jumping the School’s perimeter fence, soldiers again opened fire on them and gunned down some of them.
Police personnel also joined them in the shooting spree; leading to at least 22 of them excluding 16 members of the group whose lifeless bodies were later dumped in two burrow pits along Aba Port Harcourt Road on 12th February 2016.
