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MASSOB leader resurfaces
EMMA OGU, Owerri
LEADER of the
Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB), Chief
Ralph Uwazuruike yesterday said he is alive and well, three days after a
combined police and State Security Services (SSS) invasion of his Okwe, Imo
State residence.
The MASSOB leader told Daily Champion
exclusively that his position remains "No surrender, No retreat" even as the SSS
vowed to continue ceaseless raids on Chief Uwazuruike unless he and his
followers renounce their agenda of a sovereign Biafra republic.
Chief Uwazuruike was reported missing
after the Police/SSS contingent in about 200 trucks invaded his home which
doubles as MASSOB headquarters, to halt a meeting of the group.
Uwazuruike confirmed to Daily Champion
that none of his members was arrested during the raid but that several
female members sustained deep injuries as they fled.
The MASSOB leader said on phone that he
was not jolted by the invasion and will continue with his struggle to actualise
Biafra.
"No surrender, no retreat," he said from
an undisclosed location.
Though he did not disclose to Daily
Champion how he escaped from the security operatives, the MASSOB leader said
many of the female MASSOB members broke their legs and ankles while running away
for safety.
Also speaking to Daily Champion,
Assistant Director (Operations) SSS in Imo State, Mr. Adeola Ajai claimed on
Saturday that the SSS had dislodged MASSOB and will not stop further raids in
Okwe until Uwazuruike refrained from his struggle to dismember Nigeria.
Ajai, who gave an account of Friday’s
invasion of Uwazuruike’s home, explained that it was to stop a meeting of MASSOB
to give a "false impression" that the movement is in control and had not been
dislodged.
The SSS boss said about 50 MASSOB members
had so far denounced their membership of the organisation since the security
outfit began its campaign against the movement.
According to him, MASSOB had slated three
meetings to mobilise its members, on December 10, 15 and 17, but the SSS had to
nip their plans in the bud by invading the venue last Friday.
Ajai noted that the police/SSS team on
arrival, searched Chief Uwazuruike’s house and recovered Biafran materials
including 15 video tapes.
He said about 3,000 supporters of the
movement attended the meeting in 25 buses and purchased a cow to show that they
were in celebration mood.
"We didn’t know what to do with the cow
which they abandoned and ran away; we left the cow there," he said even as he
stated that nobody was arrested.
Meanwhile, MASSOB women wing in the 19
northern states have blamed some governors in the South-East for colluding with
a leading Aso Rock figure allegedly to perpetrate injustice in Igboland.
President of women’s wing of the
association, Mrs. Nonye Obidike, who stated this during a rally marking the end
of the year in Kaduna, alleged that some of the governors were being used in the
Anambra State crisis to destroy Ndigbo.
Apart from being used to destroy their own
areas, the women further stated that some of the governors were being used to
sabotage the efforts of MASSOB to ensure an independent Biafra.
According to her, the position of an Igbo
man in Nigeria today was laughable as the youths in the area have been turned
into commercial motorcycle (okada) riders.
She said although Ndigbo were
involved in the struggle for Nigeria’s independence in 1960, it was regrettable
that the people were being denied their rights in the country.
Said she: "The role of some of our Eastern
governors is quite sympathetic. They think that they can sell the entire race
for their selfish interests. They don’t think about the welfare of the people
but to siphon money abroad.
"The governors like to wait for the crumbs
that fall from their master’s table in Aso Rock, Abuja. God alone will judge
them. There is no recognition of our ex-Biafran soldiers.
"Their rights are being denied them. There
is no employment for the graduates and non-graduates from (the defunct) Eastern
region. What is happening in Anambra State is an eye opener that President
Obasanjo and the Nigerian government do not want us. That is why they are
destroying the state, thinking they will use the opportunity to declare a state
of emergency there.
"The Igbo helped to bring independence to
Nigeria, but they are now being sidelined and pushed to death. Politically and
economically we are nowhere. Most of our children who are graduates are okada
riders and pure water sellers under so many bridges in various parts of
this so-called country. We have become aliens in a land we call our own. Let’s
tell ourselves this simple truth and stop deceiving ourselves. This country
called Nigeria is false and deceitful.
"Amalgamation of 1914 is fake and has
caused a lot of problems. The Yoruba are working for the interest of their
people, Hausa are doing likewise. They are only thinking about their Hausa
people. Why not allow us to plan for ourselves. Every time, they use us anyhow
and at the end of the day they will dump us.
"Enough is enough, we beseech the U.N. and
our sympathisers worldwide to please come to our rescue before we are wiped out.
Nigerians and their evil government have a systematic elimination policy on the
entire Easterners/Biafrans. We have been non-violent but they do not want to
call for dialogue. All we are saying is that we are sick and tired of this
hypocritical nation where the so-called leaders do not tell the masses the
simple truth.
"We called on all the Easterners, more
specially our women, to come out and join the MASSOB and their leadership; give
them the necessary support they need to carry us along. Remember that cowards
die several times before their real death."
Also speaking on the occasion, the Deputy
National Mobilisation Officer for MASSOB, Prince Oliver Chidozie sad the rally
was aimed at sensitising the people of the East on the need to be vigilant in
the face of alleged provocations by the Federal Government.
He accused the Federal Government of
perpetrating genocide against Easterners, stressing that the task of realising
the Biafran dream is one that must be accomplished.
The rally was attended by female MASSOB
leaders from Zamfara, Kebbi, Kano, Katsina, Kaduna, Gombe, Yobe and Adamawa,
among others.
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