The IPOB women who wore black attires as they embarked on the protest, were accosted by Policemen at Government House roundabout, Owerri. The policemen fired teargas cannisters at the protesting women, but they defied the police action and continued with their march.
However at Warehouse Junction, policemen in operational vehicles intercepted the women, fired another round of teargas canisters and arrested many of them. While some IPOB women escaped arrest, about 44 women were arrested and moved to the State Police headquarters. According to the State Commissioner of Police, the arrested women engaged in unlawful assembly and disrupted the public peace. He added that they would be charged to court.
Here are photos below;
An eyewitness Kelechi Iheagwoba who confirmed the arrest, said;
“As a result of the fierce looking police officers fully armed who blocked the road for the women, these women diverted to from warehouse junction to Akwakuma.
“Do you know that many of these women fainted and also many of them were bundled into the police vehicles. Some of them were seriously beaten.”
One of the women identified as Nkechi, also said;
” What is wrong for us to say no to intimidation in this country, Nigeria. We have right to say we are going to be part of this country. It legally right.”
We also reported that an IPOB lady who joined other female members of Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, to demand the whereabouts of their leader Nnamdi Kanu, reportedly collapsed. The protest came a day after the Nigerian Army, announced its readiness to embark on Operation Python Dance III in major communities in the South East.
