15 shot as solidarity rally for Trump turns bloody in Rivers

Hours before the swearing-in of Donald Trump as the 45th president of the United States (U.S.), some members of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPoB), who staged a rally in support of Trump’s presidency, were shot on Friday in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
The drama happened at Garrison, St. John and artillery axis of the Garden City, as soldiers blocked the Trump supporters, ordering them to stop their rally.
The IPoB supporters refused, leading to the shooting.
MASSOB Director of Information, Rivers State Command, Mr. Anuken Anthony (Tonene) told reporters that 15 protesters were shot while 85 were injured.
Those shot had been taken to hospitals while those injured were treated and discharged.
Seventy members of IPoB have been arrested by the police.
Anthony, who said a notification was given to security operatives about the rally, said he did not understand why IPoB members were shot “during a solidarity rally”.
Some of IPoB members interviewed said they supported the rally because of their belief that Trump would, one day, “help us to achieve our dream for the actualisation of the Biafra Nation”.
Anthony said: “For now, over 70 supporters of MASSOB and IPoB have been arrested and about 15 of them are in the painful mood due to bullet wounds. Our members have taken some of them to the hospital. We are praying that nothing should happen to any of them.
“I wonder where on earth soldiers will brutalise innocent peaceful protesters. Our support for Donald Trump cannot be deterred by military intimidation and harassment. We were not violent in today’s rally, we were only showing solidarity to American President who we take as one of our own.”
One of those injured, Benson Paul, said: “I was dancing during the rally. As we got to St. John Junction, we saw military asking us to go back. But we told them that we were marching in solidarity with Donald Trump’s inauguration but they refused to allow us go our way.
“But we cannot continue to be a slave in our country. That was how some of continued, despite the military barricade. They manhandled and brutalised us. Look at my head and my back, they used their guns, hitting all parts of my body. We want to go to our own country. No going back on Biafra”
Another victim, Mr. Onyema Njoku, said the soldiers broke one of his legs with gun, adding that he will take a legal action after leaving the hospital.
Njoku said: “IPoB followed due process to ensure that this rally take place today. Some people protested for President Buhari in Abuja, yet nobody shot them. Today, we are carrying out a peaceful rally and the police, the military are shooting at us. This is bad.
“One of the soldiers caught me while I was trying to run away, he descended on me until he broke my leg. As I’m sitting down here, I cannot walk. I’m waiting for my friends to take me to the hospital, I will get better, I know it is part of the sacrifice for freedom.
“We are in support of Donald Trump, the President of United States of America because he believes in the Biafra agenda. We are tired of staying in Nigeria, we want to go, this is not a country, we have been enslaved politically because Nigeria looks at us as a minority group.”