Police Continues Mass Arrests Of Igbo Youths In SE

In a clean sweep on Thursday, over ten Igbo youths were arrested at Nnewi, Anambra State by a ‘special squad’ of Nigeria Police Force. According to eyewitness reports, the youths were returning from a funeral in a convoy of motorcycles when the policemen numbering many trailed and rounded them up.

According to a roadside mechanic who observed the arrest, the youths were confused as to why they were being rounded up and wanted to know what crime they committed. In the exchange that ensued, the police accused them of being ‘Biafrans’ and when the youths asked “if that is a crime”, the police started shooting sporadically, whereupon some of the youths were seriously injured. At the time of filing this report, it is not clear whether there are fatalities or not.

It later emerged that the police detachment, which was led by a police officer claimed that they were acting on orders from Abuja. They later took the youths to the police station at Ichi in Nnewi, where this reporter was informed that the DPO and other officers at Ichi were uncomfortable with the arrest.

At the time of filing this report, the youths just arrived the command headquarters and are being interrogated. It will be recalled that arrests of youths in Southeast on the accusation of being Biafrans have been rampant recently, the immediate previous being the arrest of tens youths in Ebonyi State a little over a week ago on the accusation that they are Biafrans. In that very case, they were also returning from a funeral.