Unic Press UK: The National Assembly will investigate the crisis in South East region, the Senate President, Bukola Saraki said in a statement issued today.
Operation Python Dance II: Nigeria Senate will investigate. (Image credit: The Senate President/@SPNigeria)
Excerpts from the statement reads:
“Following the clash between the military and members of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), I hereby call for calm and restraint by all Nigerians… Our brothers and sisters in the South-east, in particular, should continue to maintain peace and tranquillity and go about their lawful business. I also wish to state that the announcement of the proscription of the group known as Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) by Governors of the South-east states and the categorization of the group as a ‘terrorist organisation’ by the Nigerian military are unconstitutional and does not follow due process. Our laws make clear provisions for taking such actions and without the due process being followed, such declaration cannot have effect. We must commend the military for their efforts in restoring peace to different parts of the country and sustaining the unity of the country. However, in the face of provocation, the military should allow themselves to be guided by their training which emphasizes respect for human rights, even in war. I want to also make it clear that the National Assembly intends to embark on a fact-finding investigation aimed at determining what actually happened during the period of the military exercise in the South-east. We want to be able to sift the facts from the fiction and determine who did what. It is quite clear that all the facts are not yet known. We assure Nigerians that there will be no cover up. We intend to lay the facts bare.” (Senate President Abubakar Bukola Saraki: 18th September 2017)
The Nigerian military, currently on a mission nicknamed Python Dance II in the South East region of Nigeria, allegedly caused havoc in several parts of Abia state on 10th September 2017, especially on the streets near the residence of the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB). Tensions escalated thereafter, yet the Nigerian army allegedly invaded the Secretariat of the National Union of Journalists, Abia Council, on Tuesday, the 12th September.
Unic Press UK and several other sources have reported that it was indeed during a procession on 10th September 2017 at circa 18:30 hrs, that the Nigerian army moving in a convoy of armored personnel carriers, fired live ammunition in the area where the IPOB leader Nnamdi lives, causing chaos and severe injuries on several innocent civilians. The BBC news Thursday, the 14th September 2017, reported: “three people shot in tense south-east Nigeria. Two people died and one was rushed to hospital.”
About IPOB
The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) are seeking a referendum on Biafra independence from the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
IPOB claims to be the original inhabitants and the owners of the lands and communities of Biafra and Biafraland presently located in the South East region, some parts of South South region and some parts of the Middle Belt of Nigeria.
The group is led by Nnamdi Kanu, who holds dual citizenship being a Nigerian cum British national. Kanu is the director of Radio Biafra. He is facing a series of court cases in Nigeria, but currently on bail. His whereabouts have been unknown since the Nigerian military invaded his home on 14th September 2017.
