· IPOB declares 2,000 members killed, 750 missing
· Alleges 270 undergoing torture
Shocked by the report of Amnesty International (AI) on the massive killing of defenceless pro-Biafra agitators by the military, the South East Senate Caucus has urged the Executive arm of government to probe the “atrocities.”
The Senators said that the allegations were so weighty that they should not be swept away.
Consequently, the Igbo Senators appealed to President Muhammadu Buhari to constitute a judicial panel of inquiry immediately to investigate the alleged killing of the pro-Biafra agitators.
Amnesty International had in a report published by most national dailies on Thursday, alleged that 150 defenceless members of the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB) were killed by security agents between August 2015 and August 2016.
In a statement issued in Abuja, the Chairman of the South East Senate Caucus, Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe, said the report by AI, which painted a “very chilling picture of the brutal killing of peaceful protesters” allegedly by the military is “not only embarrassing to Nigeria as a country, but one that casts doubts on the modus operandi of the Nigerian military in handling civil protests in a constitutional democracy.
Abaribe said: “It is not enough for the Nigerian military to debunk the report; we as a Caucus demand an independent inquiry in the form of a judicial panel and urgently too.
“It is our candid view that such panel would reassure the Igbo that the Federal Government is alive to its responsibilities, one of which is the protection and respect of the fundamental rights of all people irrespective of tribe or religion”.
The Caucus added that “unravelling the authenticity of the report would help to prevent a recurrence just as it will engender unity in our country. But the most important thing to us now is that the report must be probed and those implicated must be made to face justice”.
2,000 members were killed, 750 missing- IPOB
Meanwhile, IPOB has hailed AI over its courage in releasing the damning report on the killing of agitators by Nigerian security operatives.
IPOB, in a statement issued on Thursday by its Media and Publicity Secretary, Mr. Emma Powerful, said that the report had vindicated all pro-Biafra groups over the mass killing of their members by security agents.
The group said that the AI report was an underestimation of the killings of its members by the military.
Powerful alleged that over 2,000 IPOB members were killed by security agents during their peaceful protests.
The statement read in part: “But the 150 people in the report which was given by the Amnesty International were not the accurate number of IPOB and Biafrans killed since August 2015 till date.
“IPOB’s records and statistics department gathered from all parts of Biafraland that we have over 2,000 members killed, 750 missing since then till date. We have not seen their dead bodies and we are still searching for them.
“We also have 567 members undergoing medical treatment in different hospitals. In the same vein, we have 370 people undergoing severe torture in different prisons and security cells across the country in the hands of security agents.”
“As we are talking right now, the DSS and other security agencies in Nigeria are still searching for the members of IPOB across the country; some have been in the DSS’ secret cells for six months without trial.
“Importantly, we recommend the report from Amnesty international which stands bold to condemn the crime against humanity committed by the government of Nigeria and her security agencies in the eyes of the rest of the world.”
