The protest by suspected members of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) turned bloody in Nnewi, Anambra State, on Friday, leaving two policemen and four members of the secessionist group dead.
But speaking on the incident, the Anambra Police command said only a policeman died in the protest while a Divisional Police Officer in the area was hospitalised following injuries sustained in the clash.
Giving an update on the incident in an interview with Punch, a Deputy Commissioner of Police in charge of operations, Mike Okoli said,” I will confirm to you that we lost a policeman in the clash; an inspector. The DPO who went with him to that operation is hospitalised. I can’t tell you of any other casualties; this is the much I know.”
It was learned that the suspected IPOB members marched round Nnewi and environs on Friday sensitising the people about the need for a referendum to determine a sovereign state of Biafra and rejection of the 2019 general elections as instructed by their leader and director of radio Biafra, Nnamdi Kanu, who is based in Israel.
