Thousands of travelers heading for the South-East and South-South to spend the Yuletide in their ancestral homes are being subjected to monumental agony and losses as a result of crippling military checks at the Onitsha Niger Bridgehead in Anambra State, News Express has learnt. Reports from the area say that many travelers have been forced to spend several hours on the road – some even having to spend the night in Asaba as a result of the heavy traffic gridlock arising from the military checks ostensibly aimed at fishing out pro-Biafra activists.

In a statement this morning condemning the ordeal of the travelers, the Onitsha-based International Society for Civil Liberties & the Rule of Law (Intersociety) blamed the situation on President Muhammadu Buhari, the Nigerian Army and Anambra State Governor, Chief Willie Obiano. Signed by the Board Chairman, Emeka Umeagbalasi, and Head, Civil Liberties & Rule of Law Programme, Barr Obianuju Joy Igboeli, the statement demanded an immediate end to the military siege. Below are edited excerpts of the statement:

“It is historically unheard of that a people of innocent background and character, returning to their ancestral homes for special seasonal feast like Xmas; are blocked and made to suffer and suffocate few miles to their ancestral homes. In the instant case, new born children and their nursing mothers as well as elderly people and children, etc are made to undergo excruciating pains and hardships with many sleeping inside their vehicles and by bush sides. Perishable food and domestic items worth millions of naira are also lost.

“Recall that on 2^nd and 17^th December 2015, a total of 25 innocent citizens were killed at the same Onitsha Niger Bridge by the same Hausa-Fulani soldiers attached to the 302 Artillery Regiment of the Nigerian Army, Onitsha led by an Hausa-Fulani born Army officer, Col Issah Abdullahi. Over 40 innocent citizens were also critically injured following live bullets targeted at them and shot at close range. The two butcheries resulted to instant death of 21 innocent citizens while four others shot at the chest, head and abdomen regions of their bodies died later in hospital as a result of deadly injuries sustained. In the 2^nd December killings, 13 innocent citizens were shot dead and over 20 sustained deadly gunshot wounds. At the Multicare Hospital alone, 14 critically shot citizens were admitted, out of which, four died. And in the 17^th December killings, 8 innocent citizens were murdered by soldiers and 20 others sustained deadly gunshot injuries, out of which, 13 were admitted at the Multicare Hospital alone.

“As if these were not enough, the soldiers of the same 302 Regiment had since Wednesday, 23^rd December 2015, blocked the Onitsha Niger Bridgehead and deliberately subjected the Igbo and South-south Xmas returnees to excruciating pains and hardships under the guise of checking and spotting members of IPOB and MASSOB; to the extent that livestock and perishable food items worth millions of naira were lost. On Thursday, 24^th December 2015, our field team that visited the Bridgehead to see the sore goings on; spoke to some owners of the livestock and perished food items off the Bridge and at their offloading joints along Atani Road in Ogbaru LGA, over 200 dead chickens and baskets of rotten food items were counted; all lost to suffocation following excruciating traffic jams created by the Hausa-Fulani soldiers.

“In another field trip yesterday, 27^th December 2015, at the Niger Bridgehead led by our Board Chairman, which took place between 2.32pam and 4.05pm, the Onitsha end of the Bridgehead was deliberately and completely blocked by the soldiers, obviously acting under firm directives of the duo of Col Issah Abdullahi, Commander of the Onitsha Army Regiment and the GOC of 82^nd Division of the Nigerian Army, Brig Gen Ibrahim Attahiru. The trip also included a visit to hospitals where some victims of the Onitsha Niger Bridgehead Army shooting were receiving treatments.

“The same soldiers’ blockage was the case at the Asaba end of the same Bridge. Yet, major reason given by the Nigerian Army and the Nigeria Police Force for embarking on the shooting and killing spree at the same Niger Bridge on 2^nd and 17^th December 2015, against pro Biafran peaceful protesters was falsely laid on “blockage of the important Bridge linking Southeast and South-south with the rest of Nigeria.” The carefully planned Second Civil War at the Niger Bridgehead totally marks itself out with other military checkpoints across the country where all forms of deliberate traffic jams are totally eliminated.

“It also appears that Governor Willie Obiano as the Chief Security Officer of Anambra State is overpowered by orders from above; rendering him gubernatorially castrated and forcing him into unceremonious relocation to his Aguleri Home; from where he watches helplessly his own people being tormented and threatened and punished for belonging to Igbo Ethnic Nationality of Nigeria and for daring to visit their sacred homes this Xmas season. No sensible, capable and competent Governor folds his hands and watches his people returning for seasonally important feast like Xmas; being made to sleep by bush sides or inside their vehicles for many hours, if not whole day; few miles to their ancestral homes. This is the greatest threat against their rights to ethnic identity, existence and social development and cohabitation; enshrined and recognised in the 1999 Constitution and the African Charter on Human & Peoples Rights of 1981 (domesticated by Nigeria in 1983).

“We enjoin all lovers of democracy in Nigeria and all over the world to call on the Government of Muhammadu Buhari to, as a matter of uttermost immediacy, pull its soldiers out of the Onitsha Niger Bridgehead. The Bridge must also be decongested so as to allow for free flow of traffic for innocent citizens of Southeast and South-south zones making their Xmas trips. No Ethnic Nationality, no matter how small or perceived weak; will tolerate being chased into its ancestral homes, killed, tortured or enslaved with impunity.

“The Government of Muhammadu Buhari is dangerously pushing the Igbo Ethnic Nationality to the wall. Yesterday, it was open and unprovoked mass shooting and killing of their innocent sons and daughters for exercising non violently and peacefully their constitutional and treaties’ rights; and today, their sons and daughters returning home from across the world are again being threatened, questioned and punished for belonging to their generational ancestries.

“When John De Baptism was shouting in the wilderness and the land of the living about the coming and birth of Jesus Christ, he was thought to be a fool and messenger of falsehood; yet, from AD 01 till date, his prophecy had long come to pass. We have spoken!

“Onitsha Army Shooting & Hospital Raid Update: On 2^nd December 2015, 14 critically wounded citizens were admitted at the Multicare Hospital; out of which, four with deep bullet wounds in their terminal body parts died. One had been retrieved by his family and buried and three others still in mortuary. Three are presently receiving treatment, while seven others have either been discharged or withdrawn by their families and moved to other medical locations.

On 17^th December 2015, 13 critically wounded citizens were admitted at the same Hospital, after which soldiers of the Onitsha 302 Regiment stormed the Hospital at 10:08pm and arrested all of them (13) including four others (non injured). They were taken to the Army health centre and made to lie on the floor including five of them at the point of death who were returned to the Hospital after two hours or at about 1:10am. Twelve others including the injured were held hostage by the Onitsha Army 302 Regiment Commander, Col Issah Abdullahi, without treatment for two days; from where they were bundled to the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID) of the Nigeria Police Force at Awka in the evening of Saturday 19^th December 2015.

Bodies of eight innocent citizens killed by soldiers in the 17^th December unprovoked and unwarranted shooting are yet to be accounted for or traced till date. Some of those with untreated gunshot wounds held hostage by the named Army Commander were returned to the Multicare Hospital from the State CID. Presently, four victims of the 17^th December 2015 Army killing are still in the Hospital receiving treatments, while others have left the Hospital discharged or moved to other medical locations.

“Out of those bundled to the State CID, three citizens are yet to be released while others have been granted bail or released. In all, seven critically injured citizens of the 2^nd and 17^th December 2015 Army shootings are still at the Multicare Hospital receiving treatment. From what we gathered in the Hospital, inadequate funds have remained a challenge hindering adequate medical treatment for the victims. That is to say that financial assistance from public spirited citizens is urgently needed to advance treatment and offset the hospital bills of all the Army gunshot victims admitted and treated by the Multicare Hospital.

“We sincerely thank the Director of the Hospital, Dr. Ilochi Stephen, for his courage, humility and humanitarianism. The role of the news crew of the Galaxy Television, Southeast Bureau, also gladdens our heart. It is shocking to note that till date, other than the Galaxy TV, no other paper or electronic media crew had visited the Hospital to see things for themselves or hear from the horse’s mouth.”

•File Photo shows human traffic on the Niger Bridge.