Newspaper vendors and readers in Aba, the commercial hub of Abia State, are currently being harassed by the police.

It was gathered since the weekend, policemen from the Aba Area Command have been carrying out arrest of newspaper vendors and readers over reports on the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).

Residents said there was tension at Ama-Ogbonna Junction in the commercial city when police raided the place on Sunday.

An eyewitness said residents scampered for safety, as police officers shot sporadically, while trying to arrest a newspaper vendor and readers.

The vendors were accused of distributing newspapers which had stories on the sit-at-home order by the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).

Dr. Elendu Ukoh, one of the eyewitnesses, appealed to the state government and Igbo leaders to call the police authorities rein in on their men so as not to create crisis in the city.

“The kind of people we put into police these days make me wonder if we really want anything good out of this country called Nigeria. How can someone be chasing newspaper vendors around in Aba, in this modern world?

“If you stop people from reading hard copies of newspapers, will you also stop them from reading the same stories on Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp, Telegram, among others? What manner of primitive policing is this?

“They caused panic on Sunday by their shooting and noisemaking. The whole neighborhood thought that they were chasing kidnappers. It was later that we discovered that police came to arrest a vendor and readers, who gathered in his newspaper stand. How can police be fighting newspaper vendors? What manner of problem can paper cause that Social Media cannot cause 20 times over? This people are not normal,” he said.

Michael Anorue, another resident, said almost all the vendor stands he visited in Aba on Tuesday were empty.

He said, “We learnt they were saying on Saturday and Sunday that the newspapers had stories on the sit-at-home order in honour of Biafran heroes and my question is what is wrong with it?

“The early political leaders in South East, remind these reckless police officers that Biafra is bigger than IPOB the better for them. Does proscription of IPOB mean that Biafra has been proscribed too?

“We’re all Biafrans! On the 30th of May, the World Igbo Congress (WIC) held a zoom conversation, talking about Biafran fallen heroes. Why can’t police go to YouTube, Zoom and other social media that aired it? All they do is to come to streets and start looking for unnecessary trouble. I wish the leaders in Igboland will warn those reckless police officers not to allow what’s happening in Imo State to enter Aba, because it will be worst for everybody.”

SP Geoffrey Ogbonna, Abia State Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), denied that the police arrested newspaper vendors and readers in Aba. (Daily Trust)

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