§ Mr. KEDWARDasked the Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies whether he has any further information to give the House in regard to the recent disturbances at Abu and Opobo, in Southern Nigeria, in which 18 women were shot by British Government armed police; whether adequate precautions were taken before the order was given to fire upon these warren; and what was the length of service of the responsible officer?
§ Dr. SHIELSA full report on the not at Opobo has not yet reached the Governor at Lagos owing to the difficulty of communications and the absorption of administrative officers in the work of pacification. The information available is to the effect that in the 1947W early morning of 16th December the district officer met a large mob of women armed with sticks and parleyed with them for 1½ hours. War canoes arrived to carry off loot from the factories and men armed with machetes landed and hung around the outskirts of the mob. A rush of the mob cut off the district officer and a small party of 12 police from the rest of the town, leaving Europeans defenceless. Fortunately at 8 o'clock in the morning one platoon of troops under Lieutenant R. M. Hill, Welch Regiment and Nigeria Regiment, arrived and forced its way through the mob to join the district officer. Parley with the mob continued and Lieutenant Hill was hit with sticks. The mob gradually pushed back the district officer and Lieutenant Hill until the troops had their backs to the office wall. Lieutenant Hill warned the mob more than 10 times that he would be compelled to fire unless disorder ceased and fired his revolver as a warning. At last as attempts were being made to snatch rifles from the troops and the district officer was being attacked, Lieutenant Hill gave orders to fire. The rush of the mob pushed some women into the river, of whom eight were drowned. Nineteen women and one man were killed by the rifle fire and 10 women died of wounds. The officers on the spot are satisfied that to open fire was the only possible course to save life and property.
The district officer with a party of police then rescued Chief Mark Pepple Jaja from the native town. He had been beaten and his house surrounded by the mob. Chief Jaja states that the plan was carefully drawn up on the assumption that women would not be fired on. Women were to rush the officials into the offices and the men were then to loot the factories. The only other casualties are reported from Abako where a frenzied mob attacked the station on 14th December and the police were compelled to fire, six women being killed. Full details will be telegraphed as soon as they are available. European ladies were assaulted during the riots at Aba and Imo River and many European traders and administrative officers were subjected to minor assaults. The general situation is now well in hand in all the affected districts, although in some areas the people are still sullen and restless.