May 30, 2018
By Ijendu Iheaka
Soldiers on Wednesday shot and killed a young man in Aba during the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB) sit-at-home order given to honour dead Biafran heroes.
A source who pleaded anonymity said the soldiers came from Asa Road to Port Harcourt Road / Uratta Junction where some IPOB members reportedly gathered in the morning of to discuss the sit-at-home protest.
He said that the soldiers started shooting indiscriminately as they got close to the junction, forcing the IPOB members to leave the junction.
According to him, as the shooting continued, a stray bullet hit the young man identified as Nnamdi Ikemeh from Mbano in Imo State who died on the spot.
He said that Nnamdi who was resident on Chigbu street off Uratta Junction had gone out from his house that morning to buy something.
The source said that immediately the soldiers saw him collapse, the soldiers reportedly dragged his corpse into their patrol van and sped off, preventing Nnamdi’s younger brother from taking his dead body.
“Early this (Wednesday) morning, some boys believed to be IPOB members gather at that junction as part of the sit-at-home protest;
“Suddenly we started hearing gunshots and men in army uniform with their hilux van parked around Onyike Street and from there started shooting and coming down to Uratta Junction.
“On getting here, we all were watching from our houses when their bullet hit a boy called Nnamdi from Chigbu Street.
“When the soldiers saw he was down, they started shouting at everyone to run and sit at home. Before you knew it, they dragged the dead man towards their van and sped off.
“They latter came back to harass people in the street which made most of the boys to run away,” he said.
Soldiers from a nearby military post also harassed and tore to shreds the newspapers of a vendor who was out and about selling his newspapers at Ngwa road.
The vendor who refused to give his name said he was at his newsstand when soldiers who were on patrol saw a bonfire close to his stand, jumped down, and accused him of knowing the persons who set the bonfire on the road.
The vendor said that while he was telling the soldiers he knew nothing about the bonfire or those who set it up, they tried to arrest him and he ran away.
He said that the soldiers angered that they could not arrest him, resorted to tearing his newspapers to shreds.
Prince Emma Kanu, the younger brother of Nnamdi Kanu, the IPOB leader, speaking about the sit-at-home, said the pro Biafra group has “conquered again”.
He expressed happiness over the total compliance to the order but condemned the killing of the young man he said was not an IPOB member.
“The man killed is not an IPOB member, but he is a Biafran and the action of the soldiers is condemnable because they are not supposed to kill an innocent man who was not carrying any arms, I wonder the excuse they are going to give this time around,” he said.
The Army PRO of 14 Brigade, Ohafia could not be reached for comments, but a soldier who spoke under anonymity said the victim, was not killed by soldiers, but that the soldiers retreived his body after he was shot dead by a group he could not mention.
Meanwhile, there was total compliance to the sit-at-home order as Banks, schools, shops and some other business premises in Aba were shutdown.
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