Traditionally, Igbos travel back to southeast Nigeria en-mass during the Christmas period in what has become an annual pilgrimage. This year, however, the relationship between the local population and soldiers appears to have been fraught as a result of recent clashes during pro-Biafra demonstrations.
Following the arrest of Radio Biafra director Nnamdi Kanu, thousands of Igbo youths took to the streets to demand his release in cities across the southeast. Onitsha was one of the cities that saw the biggest demonstrations as the protesters took over the River Niger Bridge linking the city with Asaba in Delta State.
Okechukwu Isiguzoro, the president of the Ohaneze Youth Council, said: “The officers and men of the 302 Battalion of the Nigerian Army at Onitsha appear to have a different agenda in that town. They appear to be there for alleged ethnic cleansing as in the past one month, these raw soldiers have killed more than 20 unarmed Igbo youths.
"This time around, they waylay Igbos returning home for Christmas and New Year holidays and rough-handle a lot of them. We can no longer tolerate this brazen act on our own land as we are neither at war nor a conquered people, so Mr President should intervene in this matter before it turns into another thing."
He added that his council has the right to protect the dignity of its people. According to Mr Isiguzoro, the army is provoking local people with their brazen acts and he hopes there is no cabal within the Nigerian Army that is pursuing an ethnic agenda and cleansing against Ndigbo.
Yesterday, President Muhammadu Buhari said Mr Kanu, the leader of the Independent People of Biafra came into Nigeria from the United Kingdom without any passport and with sophisticated equipment for his radio station. During his maiden presidential media chat, President Buhari added that one of the reasons why Mr Kanu cannot be released despite the fact that courts had granted him bail, just like former national security adviser Sambo Dasuki, is because there is the fear he may abscond.
President Buhari said: “You can see the type of atrocities that those people committed against soldiers of the republic, against the country. They could jump bail."
Nigeria's federal government filed six fresh charges of treason and other ancillary offences against Mr Kanu. During the media chat, President Buhari faulted the agitation for Biafra, insisting that all regions were represented in his administration.
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