Chaos In Onitsha As Police Set Suspected MASSOB Hide-Out Ablaze

Onitsha, the commercial city of Anambra State was yesterday thrown
into confusion after the Police in the state set ablaze a building at
Okpoko Layout, which the operatives described as a hide-out for
members of the Movement for Actualization of Sovereign State of
Biafra, MASSOB.

But the owner of the house, Mr. Ikechukwu Agude and his family,
faulted Police claims, lamenting that the force had ruined them,
saying the house was never a MASSOB hideout.

Agude said: "We don't have any business with MASSOB members here
because they use another building behind ours as their office. I was
surprised to hear that our house was set ablaze by the police when I
went to work yesterday. My wife went to school because she is a
teacher, including my daughter, Onyinye while my first son also went
out to his workplace. I have lived in that house since 2006 even
before MASSOB came and occupied the house behind mine. That house was
the only thing I have in this world, including my family. What has
been lost is overN10 million. Governor Willie Obiano should come to
our rescue please."

Counsel to Mr. Agude, Chris Okoro, while reacting, said "We understand
the governor is cleansing the state but that does not mean setting
ablaze people's property. The suspected MASSOB members involved should
be arrested and interrogated to know their mind. The law should be
followed to avoid harming the innocent. The entire process of burning
houses is wrong".

First son of Mr. Agude, Chika, while lamenting the incident, said: "I
am finished. My whole certificates from my primary to tertiary
institutions have all gone. My mother has developed high blood
pressure and now she is in hospital.

"MASSOB office is behind our building and they left it and set our own
ablaze while we have all gone to work, including my father, who is a
driver at Onitsha South Council Area. As it is now, the family has no
other alternative place to live as we have been rendered homeless".

Also his sister, Onyinye declared: "Our first building was demolished
by Power Holding Company of Nigeria in 2011 because they said our
house was near the high tension but when my father built it, the high
tension was not there. Today, the one he built after the demolition of
the other one has also been demolished and this time by the police."

Also reacting, Mazi Chris Mocha, the Personal Assistant to MASSOB
Leader, Chief Uwazuruike, dismissed police claims, saying the house
was not occupied by MASSOB members but another Igbo Organization known
as Igbo Ga-adinma, which was set up by politicians to fight MASSOB".

However, Vanguard reported that the police squad, led by Onitsha
Police Area Commander, Mr. Benjamin Wordu, in company of two
Divisional Police Officers, DPOs of Okpoko and Fegge, Mr. Emeka Ugwu
and Rabiu Garba, stormed the building and set it ablaze.

The source claimed that a gun and some bags of substances believed to
be Indian hemp were recovered from the house before it was set ablaze.

The house, police alleged had been used by MASSOB members as their
base, where innocent people were allegedly tortured and extorted.