Tribute to Biafran Heroes

Visit Biafraland Dot Com http://www.biafraland.com/ Police Killed 17 of Our Leaders - MASSOB Daily Champion (Lagos) March 5, 2006 Posted to the web March 6, 2006 12 killed over MASSOB protest Posted To The Web: Wednesday, December 07, 2005 - EMM OGU, Owerri, and ALPHONSUS NWEZE, Onitsha 20 killed in bloody Police, MASSOB clash By Anayo Okoli, Chidi Nkwopara & Eric Ugbor Posted to the Web: Wednesday, December 07, 2005 Vanguard MASSOB members to be treated as robbers in Delta — Police Posted To The Web: Wednesday, November 09, 2005 - By Austin Ogwuda NIGERIA: Biafran separatist leader charged with treason ABUJA, 8 Nov 2005 (IRIN) 10 arrested as MASSOB members attempt to hoist Biafran flag in Asaba Posted To The Web: Thursday, September 08, 2005 - By Austin Ogwuda SSS declares MASSOB leader wanted By Chidi Nkwopara Posted to the Web: Friday, September 02, 2005 Police swoop on MASSOB, arrest 8 Posted To The Web: Wednesday, August 17, 2005 - CAJETAN MMUTA, Asaba SSS, MASSOB clash over Biafran money • Man swallows currency to evade arrest Posted To The Web: Friday, August 12, 2005 - EMMA OGU, Owerri and VINCENT ADEKOYE, Benin Nigeria: Treatment of members of the Movement for the Actualizationof the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB); availability of state protection (August 2004-June 2005) Research Directorate, Immigration and Refugee Board, Ottawa A number of civil society watchdogs, including human rights organizations, media sources, civil rights activists and academics, say that members of the Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) frequently face harassment and the risk of arrest and detention by state authorities (HRW Jan. 2005; Denmark Jan. 2005, 11-13; This Day 13 Mar. 2005; Daily Champion 18 Mar. 2005; IRIN 19 Apr. 2005). They report that the group endures such aggravation in spite of its policy of non- violence (Denmark Jan. 2005, 11-13; This Day 13 Mar. 2005; Daily Champion 18 Mar. 2005; IRIN 19 Apr. 2005). In World Report 2005, Human Rights Watch (HRW) says that members of the Biafran independence movement were "repeatedly harassed and arrested" (Jan. 2005). The Civil Liberties Organization (CLO), one of Nigeria's leading human rights groups, recently condemned the "brutal crackdown" on members of the MASSOB by state security agents (This Day 13 Mar. 2005). According to CLO, the mobile police use a tactic of "kill and go" to intimidate "a group that bears no arms" (ibid.). The Lagos-based Human Rights and Justice Group maintains that government security agents systematically kill members of MASSOB, forcing many to flee the country out of fear for their lives (Daily Champion 18 Mar. 2005). Professor Pat Utomi of the Pan-African University in Lagos, a popular commentator in the Nigerian media, explained that memories of the Biafran independence war (1967-1970) are behind the government's overreaction, which has resulted in the arrest and detention of many MASSOB members (Denmark Jan. 2005, 11). According to the Integrated Regional Information Networks (IRIN), "the issue of Biafran independence remains touchy for the government, not least because [President] Obasango, a former army general, fought personally in the civil war on the side of the federal government" (19 Apr. 2005). In an interview with representatives of the Danish Immigration Service and the British Home Office during their joint fact-finding mission to Nigeria, Muhammad Sani Usman, Chief Administration Officer of the National Human Rights Commission (Nigeria), said that MASSOB is a non-violent political movement campaigning for an independent republic of Biafra (Denmark Jan. 2005, 11). In a similar interview, Clement Nwankwo, a Lagos-based lawyer and former director of the civil rights group Constitutional Rights Project, concurred with Usman, saying that MASSOB is an unarmed and non-violent movement (ibid., 12). However, Nwankwo explained that, because non-violent groups are legal in Nigeria, the government insists that MASSOB is violent and has therefore banned the movement (ibid., 13). Nwankwo added that the National Police Force (NPF) has falsely accused MASSOB members of carrying arms, and argued that reports to the contrary are likely "set-ups," orchestrated by the police to provide grounds for arrests and detentions (Denmark Jan. 2005, 13).