THE Federal Attorney- General and Minister of Justice Chief Akinolu Olujimi, recently declared MASSOB as a rebel group for asking traders to boycott markets on August 26. What is your comment?
“I respect the Attorney-General. However, I, as an individual and a lawyer, I don’t think that MASSOB has done anything, legally speaking to be regarded as rebels. I don’t think that MASSOB has declared any war and if a group of people decide to legitimately request or agitate that they want to opt out of Nigeria, I do not think in fact it is proper labelling them as rebels. And I feel that Oodua Peoples Congress and like groups exist in Nigeria; it will be unfair to classify MASSOB members as rebels. I know the minister may have meant well, but the truth is, I disagree with him. The people that decided to sit at home were not forced to do so.
They sat at home by their own free will and volition. Because they share a common desire. And the fact is that the sooner this government sits up and address their grievance and satisfy their yearning so that they can close the gap, the better for us Nigerians. No amount of persecution of MASSOB will solve the issue. If the Attorney-General wants to prosecute, he should prosecute every Nigerian that sat at home on that day. Not only MASSOB, who is speaking the mind of Igbos.
So far, they do not take to violence, the Igbos would not allow what happened during the civil war to re-occur
The Igbos will not go to war to seek independence. But the Igbos feel that they are not being accommodated; there is nothing against the law to agitate for a state. Afterall, Nigeria agitated for independence from colonial rule. I don’t think that those that did that were labelled as rebels. And I don’t think that those who will agitate for independence of the eastern states can be regarded as rebels. I think the statement, if it is true as credited to the Attorney-General, I wholly disagree with him.
Looking at it in its strict sense, what provision of the law of the land was violated by MASSOB?
Well I don’t know whether MASSOB has invaded any part of Nigeria and are now seen to be rebels. For them to be rebels, it means they have invaded parts of the country, and there are soldiers of the Federal troops looking for them to exterminate. Then, it means there is war in Nigeria between the Easterners and Nigeria. I think may be the minister was misquoted by the use of the word rebel.
I know the minister and I have very high regard for him. And I know he is very knowledgeable in law, and I think the minister wouldn’t have used the word rebel. And if indeed he used the word, I stand to disagree because the group cannot by any stretch of imagination be regarded as rebels. I think they are lawfully agitating for a cause dear to the heart of majority of the Igbos and this cause will germinate with 2007.
It is inter-related with the political setting of Nigeria and I think that Nigeria had better address this issue, and if in 2007 an easterner is not allowed to be president of this country, then, the MASSOB view will have more flavour. I think it is good for the government of Nigeria to look inward and bridge this gap. Not by persecution or prosecution. There is no provision in our law that says that a group’s agitation for independence amounts to rebellion. I don’t think there is one in the pipeline. I have not come across such law and I want to be educated by those who know better.
Do you think MASSOB is violent in approach or what is your rating of the group’s activities?
Fantastic! I will rate them as fantastic. Look, let’s call a spade a spade, they represent the mind and will of every Igbo man. No Igbo man in his right senses wants to associate with violence.
Though the Igbo elite may not associate with MASSOB because of the positions they occupy, but every Igbo man sympathises with MASSOB’s cause. No Igbo man will tell you that if given a chance he will want to remain in Nigeria. And no Igbo man will tell you that he wants to secede from Nigeria. The truth is, since after the civil war, the gap of injustice especially, against the Igbos has widened and until the gap is closed, the Igbos see themselves as an entity not within, but outside the entity called Nigeria.
For instance, the power sharing, it is an unwritten understanding that power would shift. It has shifted to the West for eight years. Is it not the same injustice we are saying that these people are not mindful of the fact that power has to shift to the East now and they are talking about power shift to the North, that is the colossal injustice the East is crying about.
Many analysts see the Igbos as a people that cannot manage themselves, especially judging from their inability to produce a presidential candidate in 2003?
It is nobody’s business. Whether the Igbos can manage themselves. It is the Igbos business. During the election that brought up Obasanjo, the two presidential candidates for the parties were from West. So it was a win-win situation for the West. So if we had all the presidential candidates from the East’ it would be a win-win situation for the east. So let nobody hide under the excuse that the Igbos cannot manage themselves. It is just a propaganda weapon.
