Biafra: Police disrupt MASSOB press briefing in Enugu

The Police on Monday disrupted a press briefing organised by members of the Movement for Actualization of Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) in Enugu to mark Biafra Day.
The MASSOB members had in the early hours of the day organised and held peaceful protest along major streets of Enugu metropolis before they converged at the Obiagu/Edinburgh roundabout for the press briefing by 12 noon.
However, armed policemen in patrol vans stormed the venue and disrupted the press briefing.
A few MASSOB members who did not leave the environment early enough were eventually arrested and taken away by the policemen.
However, when contacted on phone, Ebere Amaraizu, spokesman of Enugu State Police Command, said the police did not arrest any MASSOB member.
Earlier, the MASSOB members who displayed Biafra flags, T-shirts, stickers, among others, chanted pro-Biafra songs, saying that there was no going back in the struggle for Biafra.
Mr. Eugene Ezeh, Director of MASSOB in Enugu East senatorial zone, explained that the gathering was not a protest but a demonstration and celebration for a sovereign state of Biafra, which hopefully would be realised sooner or later.
He explained that they chose to come out to the streets once again on this particular date, May 30, because it was on May 30, 1967 that the late Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, in his capacity as Military Governor of Eastern Region declared the Republic of Biafra.
Mr Ezeh said May 30 is adjudged and celebrated as ‘Biafra Day’, an annual event as directed by their leader, Chief Ralph Uwazuruike.
Eze said inasmuch as Nigeria was celebrating Democracy Day on May 29, the people of Biafra has cause to celebrate ‘Biafra Day’ on May 30 of every year.
“By this celebration, we only want to express our happiness that Biafra Independence has been assured by the International community. The celebration is not a protest. You can see that we are not here to block any vehicle, stop any body from discharging his normal duties.
“We are seriously expressing the dire need for our freedom and we are doing that non-violently,” he said.
Mr Ezeh, who is a retired civil servant, said MASSOB strongly believes that the struggle for a sovereign state of Biafra must be realised through non violent process.
He lamented that even as the security agencies have continued to kill and clamp many of their members into detention, many others have continued in the struggle because the realisation of ‘Biafra as a separate nation is the only remaining hope to the Igbo tribe, against oppression, marginalisation and deprivation of social infrastructural development.