Eleven person have been arrested over alleged involvement in the disruption of the Eastern Consultative Assembly (ECA) Summit in Enugu on Tuesday by pro-Biafra groups.
It was gathered that the agitators made up of members of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Movement for the Actualization of Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) and Biafra Zionists Federation (BZF), among several others, forced the event to an abrupt end.
The agitators got annoyed when issues of restructuring of Nigeria took the centre stage instead of their clamour for Biafra.
Our correspondent equally gathered that the agitators, who had stormed Enugu in their numbers, with Biafra flags, were later confronted by the police, leading to the arrest of some of them.
Convener of the event, Comrade Eliot Ugochukwu-Uko, who confirmed that he abruptly ended the event owing to the charged atmosphere created by the Biafra agitators, fingered the leadership of the Ohanaeze Ndigbo over the incident.
Uko told newsmen: “Initially, I didn’t want pro-Biafra groups to be at the event; but Uchenna Madu called me and enquired whether they should come. I said no; Nnamdi Kanu’s group also called me, I’m friendly with them, because I have never openly attacked them. I didn’t want them to come.
“But later, I spoke to one of the Igbo elders, he said, let them come; the more the merrier; let them come and see what we are doing. Three days to the event, I agreed that they should come.
“So, when the event started today, I was acknowledging various groups, they wrote note passed to me that Biafra Zionists are here in their numbers, that I should acknowledge them; I said they should have patient.
“Now, today, like I said, they demanded that they should be given opportunity to talk; I was reluctant because I didn’t know what they will say. While issues of restructuring were being discussed, they started interrupting, that they want Biafra not restructuring; I said, ok, so this is what they want to say in my event.
“The next thing was that they started asking, ‘where is Nnamdi Kanu?’, that he is their leader, that their leader should be here. I knew that I had problem in my hand. They now started noise, security asked them to leave the hall, they refused. They started asking me where is their leader, asking me whether he was dead. I asked them whether I was the one that took their leader.
“So, I had to dismiss the event, because I did not want to have fracas here or a situation where someone will hijack my event.”
The Enugu State Police Commad’s Police Public Relations’ Officer (PPRO), SP Ebere Amaraizu, while confirming the incident, said eleven members of the pro-Biafra group were arrested.
He said in a statement: “No fewer than eleven persons suspected to be members of the outlawed Biafran group were nabbed by the Enugu State police command operatives today 27/2/12 in the morning around Universal hotel axis of the Independent layout Enugu.
“They were nabbed based on intelligence information gathered which guided the operatives on the successful operations carried out.
“Those arrested are helping the operatives in their investigations in relation to their alleged nefarious activities and will be arraigned properly in a law court after investigations are concluded.”
The PPRO enjoined members of the public in the state “to be law abiding, security conscious and also partner with the police to ensure that the state continues to maintain the tempo of being safest and secured.”
Source News Express