IPOB: Police Suppress Protesting Women Demanding Kanu’s Release in Imo

Matilda Omonaiye/

 

Eighty-Nine years after Aba Women’s Riots, Igboland today witnessed a semblance of the 1929 insurrection in British Nigeria led by women in the provinces of Calabar and Owerri in southeastern Nigeria.

In the same Owerri today, several women were arrested by the police as they embarked on a protest over the continued detention of Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).

Police authorities say that the women were arrested for conducting an unlawful assembly

Some of the women, mostly of middle age and from the Southeast states, were half naked, while others dressed in black and marched through the streets of Owerri.

They disrupted vehicular movement and other activities in some parts of the town.

The protesters chanted war songs and displayed different placards with inscriptions asking the Federal Government to release Kanu.

The women claimed that the security agencies knew the whereabouts of Kanu who has been out of public view since he had an encounter with the military in Umuahia about one year ago.

They asked Gov Rochas Okorocha to help them to actualise their dream of getting Biafra.

The women later barricaded the popular Government House Roundabout and created a chaotic atmosphere around the area.

One of their leaders, Mrs Ann Ibe, said that they came out in full force to fight for the actualization of their dream.

She said they were ready to die for the cause.

When a team of policemen sent by the Commissioner of Police, Mr Dasuki Galadanchi, arrived at the scene, the protesters broke into a dance.

Some of them pulled off their clothes and danced naked, while others laid on the ground and dared the police.

The police succeeded in arresting some of the protesters amid serious resistance.

Imo State police spokesman, Mr Andrew Enwerem, said the women were arrested for conducting an illegal assembly and holding an unlawful protest.

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