IPOB Members' Corpses Found In A Bush In Abia

From: OKEY SAMPSON, Aba
The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has
declared 21 days mourning for its members
killed during the military invasion of the home
of its leader, Nnamdi Kanu at Afara Ukwu,
Umuahia, Abia State. This is even as the Biafra
agitation group says it has discovered more
corpses of her slain members in a bush within
the precincts of the home of its leader.
The group equally informed that it is burying
the slain members, numbering more than over
28 who were killed during the invasion, in
piecemeal with 11 of such bodies already
interred.
A senior member of the group, Mark Eze
Ofuonye, who disclosed how some of their
members were shot dead by the invading
soldiers, and their corpses dumped in a bush
near the home of the IPOB leader, said: "Some
of our members, numbering over 28, were
murdered in cold blood by the military during
the invasion of our leader's home at Afara
Ukwu. The soldiers were doing a sort of mop up
operation; whenever they killed any of our
members, they carried away the corpse to
conceal their horrendous act but it was not
possible.
"So, they filled up their trucks with our
members' corpses. The corpses we retrieved
and which we are burying at present are those
the soldiers could not carry. They just came out
with the intention of killing any human being or
living thing that was found in the compound of
our leader. The people they met were not
armed still they shot them, even people just
standing nearby and those passing through the
area were caught in the attack."
Continuing, Ofuonye said: "The corpses we are
burying now (referring to the day of the
interview) were found inside the bush. They
were shot by soldiers and they ran into the
bush with bullet wounds thinking that they
could receive help there but no help came their
way and they died inside the bush. Some of the
dead bodies were discovered last week inside
the bush at the back of Nnamdi Kanu's house.
The 28 were those ones that were killed within
the axis of the house of our leader. But the
total number killed within this range is 305
persons."
The IPOB chieftain who said there was no need
for the operation by the Nigerian army as
members of the group did not carry arms
neither were they violent, added that the
leadership of the group declared the 21-day
mourning for their slain members.
Disclosing that those killed were from the
Eastern heartland, Ofuonye said that in addition
to burying the dead, the group is also treating
the injured and taking care of the imprisoned
ones.
"We lost very vibrant and lovely youths who
were just peacefully asking for their rights, but
the Nigerian government chose to use brute
force on them. Some of our members, who
were forced to drink poisoned water, have been
defecating blood and we are also treating them.
About 76 of our members were dumped in Aba
prisons under the most inhuman condition and
many of them are ill. A lot of things are being
done against our members, but the most
beautiful thing about all these things is that the
horrible experience we are passing through is
giving us strength. The spirit has risen, the
enthusiasm has come because when you look
back and see you've lost a lovely one, a
colleague, going back becomes a very big
problem; you can't go so that it will not look as
betrayal. As I speak, we are establishing more
zones and new members are coming in, we are
winning the war of battle of hearts and minds,"
he assured.
He said the 21-days of mourning began October
26. He was emphatic that the struggle would
continue, stating: "Because in any struggle,
people die, but the only painful aspect of it is
that we lost young boys, youths who had bright
future. In the civilized world, you don't touch
people like that, no matter what they did, at
worst you take them to court; but we have
drawn strength from their death and we are not
going back."
He advised the United Nations to send its
representatives to the home of their leader at
Afara Ukwu to be able to see how soldiers
invaded the house of a core civilian with heavy
armoury and none of the soldiers sustained any
scratch which he said was an indication that
despite the propaganda mounted by the
Nigerian army, the IPOB members were not
armed.