…No, not true – Police
Two conflicting accounts emerged yesterday over the incident that played out at the home of separatist leader, Nnamdi Kanu, in Abia state.
While Kanu said soldiers stormed his residence and injured occupants in an attempt to take his life, the police said military personnel were only carrying out a procession to test a new armoured carrier.
“There was no attack on the home of Nnamdi Kanu,” Abia police commissioner, Leye Oyebade, told Premium Times by telephone yesterday evening.
“What happened was that the military was parading a new armoured carrier and passed through Nnamdi Kanu’s residence.
“It was while they were passing that some people threw stones and other things at them,” Oyebade explained.
The police chief said normalcy had been restored and no life was lost during the minor skirmish and Kanu was neither targeted nor arrested.
But, Kanu’s lawyer, Ifeanyi Ejiofor, had painted a different account of what transpired at the home of the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, saying there was a siege.
In a statement Ejiofor accused the Buhari administration of attempting to take his client’s life.
“Just to alert the world that the Nigeria military personnel under the command of Chief of Army Staff is presently laying a siege on my client’s (Nnamdi Kanu) country home in Umuahia.
“They had continued to shot sporadically into the air through which about five of his family members were brutally wounded and some unfortunately killed. There is no doubt that the present deployment of troops to the South East is to haunt for my client and possibly eliminate him,” the statement said.
Ejiofor added that if something went wrong with his client’s life, the international community would hold the country’s President responsible.
“Let the whole world know that if anything untoward happens to my client, President Buhari and his Chief of Army Staff should be held responsible by the International Community.
“We are presently counting the number of casualties as the onslaught progress. The world should be immediately notified about the tension in Biafra land, created by the government in power.
“We must adopt all know legal mechanism to resist the unconstitutional but violent approach in dealing with unarmed people merely operating within the confines of law. Buhari must be held responsible.
“We are ready to present our case once more before the International Court of Justice. The families that lost their beloved ones in the last year may 29th violent attack by the military are yet to recover from the shock of losing their love ones. This situation must be arrested in time. ”
The Army spokesperson, Sani Usman, did not respond to calls to seek the Army’s official reaction to the incident.
The revocation motion, which was filed by the Attorney-General, Abubakar Malami, is expected to be heard in October.
