Investigate May 30 massacre of Biafrans, United Nations urged

Society for Threatened Peo­ples yesterday invited the United Nations (UN) of­fice to investigate the al­leged massacre of 35 members of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) in South-East on May 30, 2016. The Society wondered why in­nocent, unarmed people should be shot during their anniversary celebration this year at various lo­cations and the world appears to turn a blind eye on it.

The group in a statement made available to The AUTHORITY on Saturday reads in part: “An inde­pendent commission must inves­tigate the escalating violence in Nigeria. After the violent death of at least 35 Biafrans in southeast­ern Nigeria, who died during the repression of IPOB heroes day by the Nigerian Police and the Army on Monday, May 30, the Socie­ty for Threatened Peoples (STP) has called for the establishment of an independent commission of inquiry.

“We must therefore indepen­dently clarify who is responsible for the use of heavy ammunition and why it was decided to shoot at Biafran peaceful and unarmed protesters. If the government of Nigeria is not prepared to carry out investigation, we will ask the High Commissioner for Human Rights of the United Nations to clarify the reasons behind the es­calation of violence by the Buha­ri-led administration. Impuni­ty will only feed more violence in Biafra.

“The mass killing of innocent Biafrans is unjustifiable. Back­ground of the rally was the cele­bration for the 49th anniversary of the declaration of the inde­pendence of Biafra from Nigeria on May 30, 1967.”

The activists called for an in­vestigation into the killing of Bia­frans who had gathered in prayer meetings in churches and public events, even the killing of IPOB members in the National High School, Aba, Abia State on the 9th of February, 2016 and the killing of unarmed civilians dur­ing their evangelism on the 30th August, 2015 at Onitsha. The Ni­gerian security forces also pene­trated the churches, arrested and killed some Biafrans while they were sleeping.

“The most serious incidents occurred in the city of Onit­sha in Anambra State. There, at least 30 people were killed. And to stop the incessant kidnapping and arrest of Biafra agitators and those suspected to be members of the Indigenous People of Bi­afra (IPOB) in their respective homes and detain them in their respective cells in Nigeria, this must stop.”

The statement concluded: “After this new escalation of vi­olence, the perpetrators, the Ni­geria security forces must not re­main unpunished otherwise the entire southeast of Nigeria is likely to fall in violence in 2017, when they will be remembering the 50th anniversary of the start of the genocide in Biafra against the Biafrans’’.