Police kill 3 MASSOB members in Imo, injure 5

The movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of
Biafra (MASSOB) has condemned the killing of three of its
members by the officers of the Imo State command during the
burial ceremony of late Chief Theophilus Njika, erstwhile Chief
Security Officer of the movement.
This was just as the movement has demanded the release of
the three deceased members, who were shot dead by the
police officers, attached to the Orlu Police division, describing
it as worrisome that the police had become an instrument of
brutality.
In a statement signed by the MASSOB Deputy Director for
Information, Mazi Chris Mocha and made available to Daily
Sun, he stated that on January 16, 2015 Mr. Nnamdi Njika an
elder brother to the late Theophilus Njika, had disagreed with
some members of the family on the actual site where the
grave should be sited.
The statement read in part: “Trouble started on Friday,
January 16, 2015 in Ofeahia Amaifeke in Orlu, when an elder
brother of the late MASSOB member, Nnamdi Njika, who had a
disagreement with some of his family members over where the
deceased should be buried, but in spite of the explanations by
the MASSOB leaders in the area and elders in the family, Chief
John Agu and the traditional Prime Minister, Chief Akpaeri,
lodged a false complaint to the police in the Area Command in
Orlu.”
Adding, that the police on arrival fired canisters of tear gas at
the crowd in their bid to stop the burial ceremony and when
their mission to disperse the MASSOB members failed, they
(policemen) opened fire on the defenseless Biafran Security
Men, killing three on the spot while five others sustained
gunshot wounds and were prevented from being treated at a
hospital in Umuna, near Orlu.”
However, when contacted, the spokesman of the Imo State
Police Command, Mr. Andrew Enwerem (DSP), said that no
such incident was ever reported to the state command.
“I am not aware of any such incident and as the spokesman
of the command, no such matter as serious as killing three
persons was ever reported to the command except of course
some people just want to magnify falsehood,” he said.