IGP orders ‘Operation Round Up Persons Inciting Violence’ nationwide; as Uwazuruike, 21 MASSOB, IPOB members arrested

Leader of the Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB), Chief Ralph Uwazurike, along with 21 other members of the group and those of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) were among the list of persons rounded up, Tuesday, on the orders of the Inspector General Police, Mr. Sunday Arase, as his ‘Operation Round Up Persons Inciting Violence’ commenced nationwide.

The Inspector–General of Police, IGP, Solomon E. Arase, had ordered an immediate clamp down on persons or group of persons inciting violence and social disorder across the country.
A statement by Ag. ACP Olabisi Kolawole, the Force Public Relations Officer, said that “this directive becomes imperative owing to recent activities of members of the Movement for the Actualization of Sovereign States of Biafran (MASSOB) and the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) in some parts of the country.”

The statement said further that “this operational order empowers the Police to arrest anybody fomenting any act of violence or disorder, or any act inimical to the security of the nation,” stressing that “so far the following arrests have been made viz: Anambra State – 4; Imo State – 6; Delta State – 11 and Abia State – 1.”
The IGP further warned that all persons “so arrested for inciting violence, irrespective of their class or status in the society would be charged to court accordingly.”