Govt Imposes Curfew On Onitsha

[Richard Akindele]

IN response the crisis which has been rocking Onitsha, the commercial city of Anambra state for three days running, arising from a bloody clash between the police and people suspected to be members of Movement for the Actualization of Sovereign State of Biafra [MASSOB], Anambra State Government yesterday imposed a dusk to dawn curfew on the commercial city, with a stern warning that violators of the curfew would be decisively dealt with. The curfew will last between 7pm and 6am and it will last for one week in the first instance.

Already, a joint military and police patrol has begun in Onitsha to forestall further crisis. Meanwhile, normalcy is gradually returning to the commercial city.

The crisis has taken a big toll on the economic activities in the state and the police have lost an Armoured Personnel Carrier [APC], some buses and a police station.

In a state wide broadcast, the second in 24hours, Governor Peter Obi said that he has briefed President Olusegun Obasanjo on the situation on ground and that the President " immediately and graciously took necessary action".

Obi said that the State Government was doing everything possible to restore law and order in Onitsha and warned that the Government would not spare any person or group of persons bent on disturbing the peace of the state.

According to him, " Anambra state is on the verge of a new era of peace that cannot be negotiated or compromised by anybody or group".

He said that the Government is working with the military and warned that any person who tries to cause more trouble would face the consequences which he said will be "unpleasant".

He further warned that the curfew is an order and any person who violates the order would face severe consequences.

Obi who traced the crisis in the state to the engagement of thugs by politicians in the state, said time has come to stamp them out of the state. He said that they were armed by the politicians who used them and now that their employers were out of power they turned to miscreants to cause trouble for the people.

" These people were invited by politicians. My predecessors armed thugs and now that those Governments have gone, they want to remain here and perpetrate crisis. We want to restore the security of the state to the constitutionally empowered agency not thugs. We will not tolerate thuggery and rascals. We will find a lasting solution when we discuss with stakeholders", the Governor said.

He assured that the markets in the state are secured and noted that the Government was aware that the beneficiaries of the crisis would not go and rest but warned that the government was ready for them.

Obi said he did not expect the people to fold their arms and accept the drastic changes he is introducing in the state but assured that it would be for their future benefit.

He said that the miscreants could be engaged in farming and that they could benefit from a micro-loan the government is trying to introduce for the people of the state.

" When you are changing a system, people will react. But let us change it once and for all. Today what you hear of Anambra state is NARTO, MASSOB, for God's sake why", the Governor wondered.

He called on parents and guardians to call their children to order to avoid facing dire consequences.

Vanguard.

[Richard Akindele]

Clashes in Southeastern Nigeria Leave Six Dead
By Gilbert da Costa
Abuja
17 June 2006



In Nigeria, clashes in the southeastern market city of Onitsha between the police and members of a separatist group have left at least six people dead.

The city of Onitsha was calm but tense Saturday, following three days of clashes that left at least six militants dead.

Police say special police squads stormed a meeting of the banned Movement for the Actualisation of Sovereign State of Biafra, known as MASSOB. A violent clash ensued.

"While we were holding our meeting, the Nigerian police, mobile policemen, they came there with about 30-something vehicles, with two armored cars. They started to shoot sporadically, without even regard for the lives of people," said MASSOB activist Eddyson Samuel.

Police say they have arrested 18 members of MASSOB, but denied responsibility for the killings. A police spokesman said six policemen were injured.

MASSOB campaigns for Southern Nigeria, a region dominated by the Ibo ethnic group, to secede by peaceful means, though some of its members have been involved in fighting in the past.

Hundreds of MASSOB's members have been arrested. The groups leader, Ralph Uwazurike, is in jail facing a treason trial.

Samuel says the group's efforts will continue.

"We will continue with our struggle and our tactic remains non-violent," he added. "We will continue with the system until Biafra is actualized. No matter the intimidation, killing and arrest, we will continue with the system."

Onitsha, a sprawling market city on the banks of the river Niger, is one of Nigeria's most violent cities.

[Richard Akindele]

At least six people have been killed in the south-eastern Nigerian city of Onitsha as a feud between a separatist group and a transport union degenerated into street battles, residents said on Saturday.

One witness said unknown men armed with guns and machetes invaded a bus and forced all the passengers out and shot one of them by the side of the road.

"He was killed in my presence and his head was cut off," said Charles Mbara, an estate agent, who was a passenger on the bus. The incident happened on Friday.

"On my way back in the evening I saw five burnt corpses at several points in Upper Iweka. ... We don't know who the killers were," he said.

Onitsha police could not immediately be contacted. Nigerian police do not usually release casualty figures after clashes.

Local media has reported that police have arrested 18 members of the banned Movement for the Actualisation of a Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) over the past two days in connection with fighting in Onitsha.

MASSOB denied responsibility.

"We are not responsible for the killings. We are not a militant group," said Chidi Ajaegbu, a spokesman for the group.

MASSOB campaigns for south-eastern Nigeria, a region dominated by the Ibo ethnic group, to secede by peaceful means. Hundreds of members have been arrested and the group's leader, Ralph Uwazurike, is in jail facing a treason trial.

The group says it is non-violent, although some of its members have been involved in fighting in the past.

Residents say a feud between MASSOB and the National Association of Road Transport Owners (NARTO) has been going on for months but it has escalated over the past few days.

The NARTO has links to Chris Uba, a rich and powerful political kingmaker in Anambra state where Onitsha is located. Because of these ties, MASSOB suspects that NARTO members are being payed to attack and weaken the separatists.

It was not immediately possible to obtain a comment from the transport union.

Onitsha, a sprawling market city on the banks of the river Niger, is one of Nigeria's most violent cities. About 100 people were killed there in February in retaliatory attacks by Ibo on ethnic Hausa residents after dozens of Ibo were killed in riots in Hausa cities in the north.

-Reuters