Biafra: Kanu should be in prison custody, not in DSS captivity

By Nwabueze Okonkwo & Ugochukwu Alaribe

ONITSHA—A human rights group, International Society for Civil Liberties and the rule of Law, Intersociety has said that it is far better for the detained leader of Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, Nnamdi Kanu to be kept in the prison custody than to remain in the captivity of the Department of State Services, DSS.

Intersociety said the period Kanu stayed in the DSS captivity was wasteful, tortuous and depravity, more so when the DSS confirmed during last Wednesday   trial in the court that it had concluded its investigations about Kanu’s ‘offences’.

Meanwhile, the society has decried what it termed as murder of 50 in violent suppression of non-violent Biafran protesters by Nigeria’s security forces between August 30, 2015 and January 18, 2016.

According to the group,” the  documented statistics available at its disposal clearly indicated that such a massive application of state violence outside local and international norms to violently suppress the pro-Biafran non-violent protests in Nigeria within the afore-mentioned period of less than five months, had led to the gruesome murder by security forces of such a number of Nigerian citizens and Biafran citizens in particular.  “

In a press statement issued yesterday in Onitsha, Anambra state, entitled: “Violent Suppression Of Nonviolent Protests In Nigeria: Buhari Must Heed EU’s Advice”, Intersociety said the murdered victims included four citizens killed in Awka and Onitsha on August 30, 2015; 13 killed in Onitsha on December 2, 2015; 12 killed in Onitsha on December 17, 2015 (eight were killed on the spot and four others died in hospital following gunshot wounds); and eight killed in Aba on January 18, 2016.

Indiscriminate killings

The statement also alleged that scores of innocent citizens have also disappeared in the hands of Nigerian security forces particularly the Nigerian Army and the Nigeria Police Force. Citizens are routinely arrested by police on allegation of being “MASSOB or IPOB members” and killed secretly and buried in undisclosed shallow graves; likewise those shot and killed by soldiers and police while embarking on peaceful protests. Once their bodies are taken away by their killer security operatives, they will never be accounted for or released to their families for befitting.