Thirteen of the dumped corpses were discovered on 12th February by local whistle blowers while three were found days later in another burrow pit behind a Mosque near Aba. The thirteen corpses were set ablaze on 1st March 2016 by suspected agents of the State Government or the culpable soldiers of the nearby 144 Battalion.
Amnesty Int’l later had during their visit to the burrow pit on 18th February 2016 discovered that the lifeless bodies of the slain IPOB members were tied with cut pieces of Biafra flags. The corpses went up in suspicious flames 48hrs after we wrote and delivered a letter to the Government of Abia State over the public health hazard, etc. of the dumped corpses.
9TH FEBRUARY 2016 DEATH TOLL:
Not less than 30 persons were killed in the Aba prayer/singing rally and among them are: Citizens Uche Friday (30yrs) Abia State, Emeka Ekpemandu (35yrs) Imo State, Chiavoghlefu Chibuikem Abia State, Nzubechi Onwumere Imo State, Peter Chinecherem Ukasoanya (27yrs) Abia State, Chigozie Cyril Nwoye (23yrs) Enugu State, Chukwudi Onyekwere (26yrs) Imo State and Uchechukwu Nwachukwu Abia State.
Scores of defenseless citizens numbering about 15 were also shot and killed in Aba during similar street protests of 18th and 29th January 2016 and one of those killed is Citizen Chibuzor Maduagwu Paul (28yrs) from Imo State.
That is to say that out of the 8 slain citizens identified or mentioned above, when added to 16 lifeless bodies of IPOB members dumped in two burrow pits, will bring the total number of recovered or seen bodies killed to 24. The rest were taken away by soldiers till date.
Those slain and dumped bodies who had their hands tied behind their backs with cut pieces of Biafra flags technically suggest that they were taken to the burrow alive before being killed while those that have their eyes tied may most likely have been killed elsewhere before being dumped in the burrow.
It is also likely that the former were forced to carry the lifeless bodies of the latter to the burrow pits after which they were tied and shot dead.
29th and 30th May 2016 Major Massacre in Onitsha, Nkpor And Asaba: Of all the massacres under reference, those of Nkpor, Onitsha and Asaba were the most bloody and recorded the highest number of fatalities or casualties.
The IPOB leadership and other leading pro-Biafra campaigners had chosen Nkpor part of Anambra State as the venue for their 2016 Biafra Heroes Day Anniversary; having non-violently and successfully marked same in Enugu and Umuahia in 2015 and 2014 respectively.
The leadership of the Indigenous People of Biafra had on 24th of May 2016, addressed a letter to the Government of Anambra State through then State Commissioner of Police, CP (now AIG) Mr. Hosea Karma. The letter was dated 23rd and signed on 24th of May 2016 by Mr. Uchenna Asiegbu; the group’s head of the Directorate of State.
The CP was constitutionally charged in the letter to ensure that anniversary was a hitch free and the event venue provided with security. The said letter was successfully couriered to the CP four days to the anniversary.
Shockingly, the then CP and the Government of Anambra State, on receipt of the letter, neither invited the signatories to the letter/their representatives, nor made any public pronouncement concerning the status of the letter.
And unknown to organizers of the event including the IPOB, the letter became a counter-measure and an instrument for perfection of plans for unspeakable State violence and crackdown that were unleashed on organizers, their supporters and other innocent members of the public including early morning travelers and church service returnees on 29th and 30th May 2016.
The letter was used as counter-measures leading to maximum mobilization of the State Joint Security Taskforce and deployment of more military reinforcements from the 82nd Division of the Nigerian Army in Enugu.
For: Int’l Society for Civil Liberties & the Rule of Law (Intersociety)
• Emeka Umeagbalasi, Board Chairman
Mobile Line: +2348174090052
• Obianuju Joy Igboeli, Esq.
Head, Civil Liberties & Rule of Law Program
• Chinwe Umeche, Esq.
Head, Democracy & Good Governance Program
• Florence C. Akubilo, Esq.
Head, Campaign & Publicity Department
Email: info@intersociety-ng.org
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