ARMY DENIES KILLING MASSOB MEMBERS

The Nigerian army has denied killed
members of the Movement for the
Actualisation of a Sovereign State Of Biafra
(MASSOB) and the Indigenous People Of
Biafra (IPOB) and accused them of
committing heinous crimes.

In a statement by Colonel Sani Kukasheka
Usman who is the spokesperson of the
army, he reacted to a planned release of
Amnesty International that reportedly
accused the army of carry out extra-judicial
killing of member of the separatist groups.

Usman however accused the international
group of peddling lies and said it was an
attempt to tarnish the image of the army.
He said the group actually selected people
living in their region who were from other
pats of the country and killed them.
Read the statement below:
The attention of the Nigerian Army has been
drawn to a planned release of a report by
Amnesty International on an unfounded
storyline of mass killings of MASSOB/IPOB
protesters by the military between August
2015 and August 2016. We wish to debunk
the insinuation that our troops perpetrated
the killing of defenceless agitators. This is
an outright attempt to tarnish the reputation
of the security forces in general and the
Nigerian Army in particular, for whatever
inexplicable parochial reasons. For
umpteenth times, the Nigerian Army has
informed the public about the heinous intent
of this Non-Governmental Organisation
which is never relenting in dabbling into our
national security in manners that obliterate
objectivity, fairness and simple logic.
The evidence of MASSOB/IPOB violent
secessionist agitations is widely known
across the national and international
domains. Their modus operandi has
continued to relish violence that threatens
national security. Indeed between August
2015 and August 2016, the groups’ violent
protests have manifested unimaginable
atrocities to unhinge the reign of peace,
security and stability in several parts of the
South East Nigeria. A number of persons
from the settler communities that hailed
from other parts of the Country were
selected for attack, killed and burnt. Such
reign of hate, terror and ethno-religious
controversies that portend grave
consequences for national security have
been averted severally through the
responsiveness of the Nigerian Army and
members of the security agencies.
These security agencies are always targeted
for attack by the MASSOB/IPOB instruments
of barbarism and cruelty. For instance, in
the protests of 30 – 31 May 2016, more than
5 personnel of the Nigeria Police were killed,
while several soldiers were wounded, Nigeria
Police vehicles were burnt down same as
several others of the Nigerian Army that
were vandalized. The strategic Niger Bridge
at Onitsha came under threat thus leading to
disruption of socio-economic activities. In
the aftermath of the encounter that ensued
between security agencies and MASSOB/
IPOB militants many of own troops sustained
varying degrees of injury. In addition, the
MASSOB/IPOB recurrent use of firearms,
crude weapons as well as other cocktails
such as acid and dynamites to cause
mayhem remain a huge security threat
across the Region.

In these circumstances, the Nigerian Army
under its constitutional mandates for Military
Aid to Civil Authority (MACA) and Military
Aid to Civil Powers (MACP) has continued to
act responsively in synergy with other
security agencies to de-escalate the series
of MASSOB/IPOB violent protests.
Instructively, the military and other security
agencies exercised maximum restraints
despite the flurry of provocative and
unjustifiable violence, which MASSOB/IPOB
perpetrated.

The adherence to Rules of Engagement by
the military has been sacrosanct in all of
these incidents. Therefore, it is rather
unfortunate for the Amnesty International to
allow itself to be lured into this cheap and
unpopular venture that aims to discredit the
undeniable professionalism as well as
responsiveness of the Nigerian Army in the
discharge of its constitutional roles.