Biafra day killing: Rights group puts figure of victims at 120 - 90 bodies allegedly buried in military cemetery

A rights group, International society for civil liberties and rule of law, Intersociety has put the number of people killed by security forces during the Biafra day killing at 90.

The group in a press release made available to journalists yesterday and signed by its chairman Board of Trustee, Comrade Emeka Umeagbalasi also alleged that the bodies of those killed in the fracas were confiscated by military personnel, and have also been given a mass burial at the cemetery of the military cantonment in Onitsha.

The  group said the secret mass burial was performed moments after the arrival of a representative of the Government and Governor of Anambra State, who is a top government official came to supervise the graves before the commencement of the secret mass burial.

Part of the release reads, "That a total of fifteen graves were dug with some shallow and others deep and that some graves contained as much as ten corpses and others as low as five depending on the depth of each grave."

The group quoted one of the victims, name withheld, who was among those arrested and detained in the barracks, but was lucky to be released and said, "He had hours after his release, spoken to us and confirmed the mass burial inside the Onitsha Barracks of over 90 murdered Biafran Heroes Day celebrants on Wednesday, 1^st of June 2016.

"He further told us that some soldiers guarding their cells, had in the night of same Wednesday, 1^st of June 2016, around 8.30pm, violently or harshly  communicated to them in their cells: “we don give your brothers mass burial today and if you people mess up, you will join them and nothing will happen”.

The group condemned what it called basket of lies, which were fed to the public by both the police and Anambra state government, saying that their statements did not represent the truth of what happened at Onitsha during the Biafra day celebration.

"Recall that we had earlier condemned the basket-load of lies cooked up by the trio of the Nigerian Army, the Nigeria Police Force and the Government of Anambra State over their vicarious and individual ignoble and abominable roles in the massacre under reference.

"We also promised to rubbish their lies and falsehoods with undiluted facts and figures so as to de-contaminate and de-pollute the minds of all Nigerians and the international watchers, and that is what we have done with this release."

Reacting to this however, the commissioner of police in Anambra, Mr Hassan Karma in a telephone interview with journalists said he and his men have combed morgues in Anambra, trying to find corpses of those murdered during the attack, but has found non.

The commissioner also called on anyone whose relatives are missing to make complaints to the command.