Charles Onyekamuo
13 November 2005
analysis
Lagos — Last Monday, people suspected to be members of the Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) and officers and men of the Nigeria Police clashed in Onitsha. Charles Onyekamuo gives an eyewitness account of the mayhem that left destruction in its wake
Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MAASSOB) was seen initially as a thing of the mind of those who wanted to exhume the ghost of the defunct Biafran Republic buried with the end of what was then known as the Nigeria-Biafra war on January 15, 1970. Nobody, in the slightest imagination took the propagators of the new Biafra led by Chief Ralph Uwazuruike, an Indian trained lawyer serious when he re-proclaimed it in 1999, a few months into the new democratic dispensation that came into being after about 15 years of military interregnum in Nigeria's politics. That was after the second Republic Government of Alhaji Shehu Shagari was toppled by Major General Muhammadu Buhari who ruled in his stead.
However, like the mustard seed, the MASSOB which Uwazuruike planted and nurtured by the waters of group convictions and persistence, the MASOOB has grown from a mere plant to a very mighty tree with its roots and branches spread into every nook and crannies of the former birth of Biafra populated mainly by Igbos of the south-east of Nigeria.
Perhaps, August 26, 2004 would go down as a day the MASSOB activities permeated the national consciousness. It was a day the MASSOB leadership ordered the people of South East states anywhere they may be in the country to stay indoors in protest of the alleged injustice meted out to them in Nigeria.
As a result, business activities were paralysed in some cities in the country neither where the Igbo do one form of trading nor as the non-violent protest lasted. Unknown to government, the people had made a statement, but its response to the situation was to say the least very appalling. Government's tried to trivialise the widely complied sit at home order issued by the MASSOB by saying that the Igbos were mainly observing the new Yam festivities in their different states and towns. But it was a fatal error of judgment because instead of finding solutions to the passivity of an incensed people, government through its security agencies embarked on sporadic raids on the headquarters of MASSOB, in Okigwe, Imo State and the maiming and killing of its protagonists.
The furtherance of this must have inspired as it were a nation-wide march in cities of Nigeria on November 7, by the leadership of the MASSOB to protest the arrest, detention and later arraignment in court for treason of their founder and leader, Uwazuruike by the Federal Government.
The November 7, protest which effectively paralysed activities in Enugu, Abakaliki, Orlu, Owerri, Nnewi, Aba, Ekwulobia, Umuahia, Asaba, Port Harcourt and Onitsha particularly didn't just pass as the usual MASSOB protest. That day in Onitsha, there seemed to be a deviation as the Police in Anambra State and members of the group numbering over 3,000 in a procession clashed at Boromeo round about in front of the compound of Nigeria's first President, Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe who died in 1996 turned sour as the clash allegedly left two people from the MASSOB dead and several others injured with the protesters setting the houses in the compound Azikiwe ablaze.
Interestingly, accounts of what led to the gun duel between the two groups were conflicting with either of the group trying to paint picture in its favour. Thus, while the MASSOB leadership accused the police of aggression and setting the houses ablaze, the police in turn blamed the MASSOB.
According to Comrade Uche Madu, MASSOB director of information, his group had begun a peaceful protest march against Uwazuruike's arrest and detention from the Niger River bridge head in Onitsha at about 9.30 p.m. "But as we are approaching Zik's round about in the Borromeo area, very close to army gate, we suddenly saw flames coming out of Zik's house, but we didn't suspect anything sinister and continued our march which was to terminate at the New Spare Parts Market, Nkpor, about two kilometers away.
"However, on approaching the gate enclosing Zik's compound, some policemen on mufti opened fire on the crowd, killing two instantly, and injuring several orders", he said, adding that the police action must have incensed the crowd of MASSOB supporters who now engaged the police. He denied that his members carried firearms, insisting that they were not violent.
Madu said the police allegation that members of the organisation was responsible for the arson in Zik's houses, is a calculated move by the Nigerian police to discredit the MASSOB. "We felt it was the agents of Nigerian Government that torched the houses to discredit us, the Federal Government can do anything to blackmail MASSOB before the outside world as a violent or terrorist organisation. Imagine when they wanted to affect the arrest of our leader, they disguised as members of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC). So you can see the extent they can go to tarnish the image of MASSOB as a non- violent organization.
"Members of MASSOB are not stupid to the extent that we burn down Zik's houses. Zik was a Biafran, and we hold him in high esteem and respect him a lot as a pioneer freedom fighter, just the way we are now doing. So, how do you think we shall burn down his houses under any guise" he queried.
However, as far as the police are concerned Madu was talking balderdash. According to a senior police officer attached to the Onitsha Area Command, but who did not want his name in prints, the MASSOB members had blocked the highways in the early hours of the protest day and were very unruly and uncontrollably. The police, he said had tried to contain them right from the Upper Iweka area of Onitsha to no avail. He said as the group moved towards the Zik's roundabout, his men had to challenge them.
"But because of their number, over 3,000, they over whelmed a few of our men on the ground and chased the police who ran in to Zik's compound to escape being lynched. But in a bid to get to the police men, they chased them into the compound, and incidentally when they came and saw that painters were working on Zik's house, painting them in green, white, green colours, the mob got infuriated, left the police they were chasing and ignited fire on the buildings," he said, without giving an insight into the kind of challenge his men gave to the band of protesters.
The fire, he said burnt inexorably because the vehicles from the Fire Service Station in Onitsha who answered the distress call had no water to put out the raging fire. He said a team of mobile police men from the Onitsha Area Command were later called in to counter the challenge posed by the over whelming MASSOB, but before they arrived, the damaged had been done.
Checks by THISDAY inside Zik's "Inosi Onira" expansive compound revealed that the mob however burnt down the police post within the compound, and an adjacent duplex as well as four bungalows which served as boys quarters were all reduced to rubbles, while the main building where the great Zik was laid in state during his funeral in 1996 was severely torched with all the window panes shattered.
There were also blood droppings all over the place, while household effects like fridges, deep freezers, television sets, rugs, clothing, mattresses, and books in the shelf were burnt. "My home is in a shambles", Chukwuka Azikiwe, Zik's first son and the current Owelle of Onitsha and the sixth in the hierarchy of titled chiefs in the ancient city said. "I was in one of the burnt duplexes and all I noticed was that there was disturbance outside that gate, near the round about area. I believe the Police were engaged by members of MASSOB. I was planning to go out but decided to briefly supervise the workmen painting the houses, in preparation for the Christmas centenary birthday of my father (Zik).
"Suddenly, we started hearing a lot of heavy gunfire outside, and we saw a surge of people running in. Then, we saw some wounded policemen streaming with blood. So, I converted one of the buildings to an emergency sick bed, and the other policemen over-powered outside the gate were running.
"In the milieu people who ran into this compound were asking me to go and lock the gate, but I decided the best option would be to go and appeal to them and evacuate people here, but just as we were thinking what to do, the mob surged in and started burning the police post, shouting," where are the policemen?" People, including policemen were scaling the fence wall. The crowd said they were bent on fishing out the policemen and started breaking the window glasses; they burnt down the duplex where I live, and so, I started looking for a convenient place to hide. From my hideout, I wanted to call the police command for reinforcement but the diary containing the phone number of police commissioner was not available. It was in the house that was on fire, together with N260, 000 and my passbook. They burnt down everything. Nothing was spared.
"They over powered every body. They were wild and were combing the whole compound for policemen. They ransacked the place and set the buildings ablaze. The way they did it, you begin to wonder if it is the police they were chasing", he said but ruled out the likelihood of a premeditated sabotage.
The chairman of Onitsha north council area, Mr. Bright Osemeka disagreed, saying that after the assessment of the situation upon getting the report and meeting with the members of his council executive, he felt that beyond the police and MASSOB clash, there was something not known to the ordinary people that may have precipitated the mob action on Zik's houses.
"The way Zik's residence was burnt down shows there was an articulated premeditation of what should be done", he said, adding that what has happened exposed the level of insecurity of lives and property in the state. He disagreed that Chukwuma Azikiwe's fallout with the Onitsha traditional council may have become a latent factor behind the arson, adding, "to the best of my knowledge I don't think arsonists are indigenes of Onitsha and Chukwuma is still the Owelle of Onitsha".
But the arson on Zik's "Ino-Onira's compound attracted sympathisers from all walks of life who thronged the police Thursday to behold the havoc wrecked on the late sage's compound during the police/MASSOB clash in Onitsha. All the sympathisers were united in apportioning blames to whichever group that was responsible for the arson, describing it as a sacrilege, abomination and a desecration of Zik's household and his final resting place.
In the view of Pa. Chukwukadia, the perpetrators of the arson should own up and confess their sins; else they will not escape the wrath of God. "The perpetrators of this dastardly act have desecrated Zik's household and his final resting place. But if they are saying that the man after all he did to liberate Nigeria from the shackles of colonialism, to set them free from the noose of colonial emasculation at a time even some of the parents of those who committed this abomination had not been born, if they said he was wrong and should not be allowed to rest peacefully, they too should not have peace.
"Whoever did this will pay for it one day. God is not a God of injustice. He is compassionate, but visits everybody according to his or her deeds. In my own thinking, those who did this (arson) should own up, confess and ask for forgiveness from God; it is simply unimaginable, inapprehensible", Chukwukadibia, who went to the Inosi-Onira family home of the Azikiwes last Tuesday to commiserate with them cursed.
His curses were shared by a great many of the sympathisers who had also come for the same purpose. Senator Joy Emodi (Anambra North), who herself hails from Onitsha also condemned the arson on Zik's Inosi-Onira residence in unequivocal terms, saying the dastardly act was abominable and an insult to the spirit of the late Sage and Igbo generally.
She enjoined every patriotic Nigerian and Igbo generally to stand up in condemnation of the arson which she described as wicked, adding that the perpetrators would never escape the wrath of God. She urged security agencies to do all within their powers to fish out the arsonists and prosecute them in accordance with the laws of the land.
In the same vein, Traditional rulers in Anambra State, at the end of an emergency meeting convened under the aegis of Anambra State Traditional Rulers Council in Awka, Wednesday called for a full-scale investigation into the arson. Chairman of the council, Igwe Kenneth Orizu III of Nnewi said the investigation became necessary in view of the buck passing between the MASSOB and the police over the incident, adding that a full panel of inquiry with powers to apportion blames will unravel the mystery behind the arson. He enjoined the MASSOB to carry their protest to Abuja where their leader was being held.
"Zik was a front line fighter for Nigerian independence. What offence did he commit? Was it when he was alive that he committed the offence or when he was dead?" he queried, and said, "So the traditional rulers condemned the incident completely".
Governor Chris Ngige of Anambra State, who also visited the Azikiwes in commiseration and assessment of the level of destruction, however gave an inkling of hope to the family members who are now homeless. He said he had directed the state commissioner for Works, Mr. Emeka Ejikeme to relocate the homeless inside the compound and work out modalities for the envisaged reconstruction of the burnt buildings. He described the damage as a colossal disaster and 'a desecration of the great Zik".
"No Igbo man should be proud of what MASSOB did", he said and pledged that Anambra State Government will leave no stone unturned to fish out those involved. He said that security reports available to him fingered members of the National Association of Road Transport Owners (NARTO) in the state whom he alleged seized the opportunity of the Police/MASSOB clash to loot. Ngige promised to assist the Zik family pick up the pieces of their shattered lives, as well as seek assistance from the other south east governors with a view to finding a permanent solution to the haplessness within the Azikiwes.
He expressed worry as to why the police should engage MASSOB in a gun duel as according to him, the organisation had been very peaceful in its conducts and agitations for the actualisation of Biafra; adding that there has not been any confrontation between the MASSOB and people of Anambra State, and that Biafra may have become an attitude of the mind.
"It has been peaceful. My own Biafra is not the Biafra of disunity, but the one that will bring economic development, building of refineries, social and economic emancipation of the South East geo-political zone, encourage industrial development and contribute to overall economic development of Nigeria", he said.
A group that calls itself Biafran scientists has vowed to commence a two-day sit-at-home protest if by November 24, if MASSOB leader, Chief Ralph Uwazuruike was not released. The leader of the group, Mr. Linus Eze said that the group was determined to embark on the protest until Uwazuruike is released.
MASSOB area provincial administrator for Anaocha in Anambra state, Mr. Johnson Ebereonwu who spoke with THISDAY on phone from Okwe said a team of security agents who came in three pick-up vans and numbering over 30 confiscated and burnt all the files, documents and other properties found in the compound.
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