Leader of the pro-Biafra group, Biafra Zionist Movement (BZM), Barrister Benjamin Onwuka, has claimed responsibility for last Saturday’s invasion of Enugu State Government House.

Briefing selected newsmen at the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) Press Centre, Enugu, yesterday, Onwuka claimed that BZM members took control of Enugu State seat of power for about four hours after they successfully hoisted the flag of the Republic of Biafra and some banners at the main gate.

He dismissed speculations that the group was sponsored by politicians in Enugu State, explaining that the major target of the BZM members was to hoist the Biafran flag as a symbol of rebirth of the defunct Biafra Republic.

Onwuka said members of the group, who were not armed and had no charms whatsoever, were at Government House from 3 a.m. to 7a.m. before soldiers dislodged them, insisting that they accomplished their mission.

He, however, warned that Nigeria should vacate the Biafran territory before March 31, 2014, or risk a bloodbath, disclosing that his group had concluded plans to take over total control of Biafra land from April 1.

Said the BZM leader: “I want to let you know what happened on March 8 at the Government House Enugu. This is to confirm the true report about what happened. You know very well that since January 12, 1970, the flag of Biafra has never rested on the Government House in Enugu which is the centre power of the Biafra people.

“What we did on the 8th is to reconfirm the independence of the Republic of Biafra which we successfully did.

“We didn’t attack the Government House, but we captured it back for the Biafra people. We captured it for four hours and there was a battle between the Biafrans and the Nigerians and by 7a.m., we retreated because we didn’t have any weapons in our hand, to avoid any loss of life.

“The reason we did it was to show the Biafra people that the hope for Biafra is still alive and that nothing shall quench the aspiration of the Biafra people to be independent. That independence has been resurrected. So the Biafran flag was raised at the Government House on the 8th of March, 2014 and I, Benjamin Igwe Onwuka, led the operation.

“It wasn’t an armed attack on the Government House, it wasn’t kidnappers as the police have said. It was Biafran people and the Biafra Zionist Federation led it and I, Benjamin Onwuka, was the man that pioneered it. It wasn’t an attack on anyone, but for the restoration of the independence of the Republic of Biafra.

“As I said, the raising of the flag at the Government House is a symbol of the resurrection of the Republic of Biafra which we did on the 8th of March 2014.”

Continuing, Onwuka said: “I want the Biafra people to know and the entire world that the Biafra has been resurrected and no force of arm could hinder this aspiration for Biafra.

“Let me make it clear; the states that will make up Biafra now are Benue, Kogi, Delta, Edo, Bayelsa, Rivers, Cross River, Akwa Ibom, Ebonyi, Anambra, Enugu, Imo and Abia and Southern Ondo.

“I thank God for this press conference to set the record straight that the Biafra is independent now, because that flag that has been raised at the Government House, Enugu.”

News Express reports that Onwuka’s account of events contradicts that of Enugu State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Abubakar Mohammed, who blamed the mainstream eastern secessionist group, the Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB), for the invasion.

Addressing newsmen on Monday in Enugu, ComPol Mohammed had recounted how the invaders stormed the Government House armed with machetes and other dangerous weapons.

“When the police succeeded in dislodging the assailants, they recovered two big banners and a flag belonging to MASSOB as well as a bag containing charms,” he had said, claiming that four of the invaders were arrested during the scuffle, all of whom allegedly confessed to being MASSOB members from neighbouring Anambra State.

Mohammed’s allegation was, however, denied the next day by MASSOB leader, Chief Ralph Uwazuruike, who told newsmen that the police commissioner “is suffering from a serious malaria attack and he should seek an efficacious malaria drug to address his ailment.”

The MASSOB leader declared that those arrested during the attack are not members of the organisation, advising the police to charge them to court, “because it is only the court that could really ascertain their true identity.”

•Partly based on a Vanguard report. Photo shows Pro-Biafra activists.

Update news