The Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, has alleged the arrest of an undisclosed number of female members of the group in Owerri, Imo State on Sunday morning.
The group said the women were arrested when they staged a peaceful protest to demand the release of its leader, Nnamdi Kanu.
IPOB, in a press release made available to correspondent in Awka by the media and publicity secretary, Emma Powerful, demanded the immediate release of the women, whom they said have been taken to Etche local government in Rivers State.
Part of the release read, “We condemn the sacrilegious arrest, illegal detention and barbaric torture of grandmothers arrested and held in military custody by Nigerian soldiers and police under the most appalling conditions.
“It is unheard of anywhere in the world that old women, some of them grandmothers, were arrested by army or police, teargassed, locked-up and tortured for exercising their constitutionally guaranteed right to peaceful assembly.”
The group said Igboland was not a conquered territory, but the activities of security agents were portraying the area as a conquered territory.
It condemned the Imo State Governor, Rochas Okorocha for standing aloof and letting such treatment to be meted to women from his state.
“The intention of the government is to intimidate and humiliate our people, women and the elderly. The abduction of grandmothers, some of them in their late 70s, is the worst kind of abomination. It is an invitation to anarchy because if by the close of business on Monday August 20, 2018, IPOB will call for a civil uprising against the oppressors and their agents in Ohaneze Ndigbo and government houses across Biafraland.
“This level of desecration and sacrilege will not happen in Arewa North neither will it be condoned in Yorubaland. It is happening in Biafraland because those that parade themselves as leaders (SE governors and Ohaneze) are cowards, appointed by the caliphate to act as their agents.
“When Fulani terrorist herdsmen rape our mothers in the farms, destroy our crops and means of livelihood, you don’t see any army or police rushing to protect them. No Fulani terror herdsmen has ever been arrested by the Nigerian army or police.
“But the same long suffering mothers, with nobody to protect them, are the ones being arrested, detained and tortured for exercising a constitutionally guaranteed right,” Powerful said.
The group listed “Igbo conspirators” who have allegedly been masterminding the arrest of its members to include: Igbo governors, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, and demanded that they be held responsible if any harm befalls the women.
