FOR more than a week, residents of Oyigbo, a local government area located about 30 kilometres east of Port Harcourt, Rivers State, have experienced gruesome killings, destruction of properties and complete unrest, allegedly aided by Nigerian soldiers, a resident who pleaded for anonymity has told The ICIR. 

Shortly after the #EndSARS protests in Rivers State, another group of Nigerians suspected to be the outlawed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) embarked on another round of protests that turned violent.

A resident told The ICIR that suspected IPOB protesters vandalized and burnt three police stations including Afam police station, Umuebule 1 police station and Oyigbo police station, killing at least five policemen. He added that a court in Oyigbo and a security checkpoint in Afam were also torched.

The acts of violence carried out by the group, which has been proscribed in Nigeria since October 2017, can be traced to Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of the group who in a widely-circulated voice note and video called on his followers to burn down police stations and kill security officers.

“I don’t want to see a policeman on the streets. Go and look for weapons, arm yourselves, build weapons if you don’t have one, and destroy them. Mad people everywhere. They want destruction, we’ll give them destruction,” the message in the voice not by Kanu reads in part.

Kanu is described as a British Nigerian Biafra political activist, who is resident in the United Kingdom (UK). He is also the director of a UK registered radio station named Radio Biafra.

The main aim of IPOB is to create an independent state for the people of the old Eastern Region of Nigeria through a referendum.

It is believed that the Kanu’s instruction to his followers gave rise to the crisis now rocking Oyigbo, forcing the Nyesome Wike, the governor of Rivers State to impose a 24-hour curfew.

The 24-hour curfew which started on October 21, has now dragged on for 12 days, with reports by Amnesty International, a global rights group stating that Nigerian soldiers tasked to enforce the movement restriction have engaged in alleged extra-judicial killings.

According to a resident, the soldiers who were deployed to curb the violence in the area have now turned on the ordinary citizens, whether they are IPOB members or not.

“A number of Soldiers were deployed to the area to curb the violence, probably recover whatever was stolen during the vandalization and then apprehend the perpetrators of such acts. But what we see is soldiers shooting sporadically, and in some cases, the guns are aimed at people whether intentionally or not,” a resident told The ICIR.

Reports state that Oyigbo is now desolate, with some residents hiding in their homes with no food, light, or water just to avoid getting shot by Nigerian soldiers.

“The people stuck here are steadily graced with gunshot sounds and if you come out and you receive shots, you take.

“While they are searching for the IPOB members, they are also shooting sporadically, going from house to house in search of stolen weapons. So, some people are totally missing probably arrested as suspected IPOB members, their properties burnt and no idea where they are taken to and if they are alive or dead,” a resident told The ICIR.

In the midst of what Socio-Economic Rights And Accountability Project (SERAP), a legal and advocacy organisation describes as ‘grave human rights violation’, the curfew imposed by the governor is still on, leaving residents with no means of survival.

“The 24-hour curfew is still on, we can’t go out, food is running out, and not everyone is on the same level financially. Some families are already starving, you come out, they shoot you, you stay in you starve,” a resident lamented.

Nnamdi Omoni, Rivers police Public Relations Officer (PRO) ignored phone calls and is yet to respond to messages sent to him before filing this report.

Wike has denied deploying soldiers to Oyigbo LGA. While speaking during an interview on Africa Independent Television (AIT) on Monday, the governor said he ordered “security agencies”, not specifically the army, to bring to justice any member of the (IPOB) group disrupting the peace in the state.

“The issue of people saying I sent soldiers to Oyingo to kill Igbo people is balderdash; It is completely a non-issue. Have I even directed police one day? I have no command over the police so how will I now begin to direct the army?

“I said security agencies, I never said the military, are to make sure this ban on IPOB is maintained and that they should not allow the activities of IPOB, anywhere in any of the local governments,” Wike said.

The governor on October 28, had tweeted plans to rebuild all torched police stations, promising that IPOB members responsible for the destruction would be apprehended and made to face the full wrath of the law.