RECENTLY, the Attorney General declared MASSOB a rebel group, under the ambit of the law, is that right?
“I have not seen MASSOB take up arms against the Federal Government. I have not seen MASSOB shoot and kill people. I have not seen MASSOB preaching bloodshed. So, I am still at a loss to know where the rebellion is coming from.
What MASSOB is doing is what OPC is doing. What MASSOB is doing is what we in the Niger Delta are doing. In fact, what MASSOB is dong is what I started championing sometime ago, which I still intend to continue to champion, and simply that we have a right to self-determination, we have a right to project and protect our interest as a group. We have a right to seek for self actualisation. That is what MASSOB is doing which I support.
MASSOB is not a rebel group, MASSOB is preaching what we all are preaching around the country in different forms, which is true federalism, which is the right to self-determination, resource control, that is what they are talking about. In fact, what MASSOB is saying is what Awolowo said many years ago that we don’t have one nation, we only have a geographical expression called Nigeria. There are many nations within Nigeria, and that is true.
Because nations are product of evolutionary history. They are not products of decrees that lump people together. The places they have tried it in the past around the world, it has ended in disaster. So, it is their God-given right that they are advocating for. The right to pursue the interests of a people with a common history, the right to determine what is right for them as a people with a common history, no decree, no Lord Lugard, no law can change that, that they are a people with a common history, that they are Igbo-speaking people, that is why God kept them in that geographical area near the Niger.
Nobody can change that. So, the Federal Government is wasting its time declaring MASSOB a rebel group. I do not see MASSOB as a rebel group. I support the ideals of MASSOB. I support their programmes, I support their style, and I support their aspirations.”
The Attorney-General reportedly said that the stay-at-home action called by MASSOB was an act of treason, how true is this?
“That is not correct. The minister must have read treason as defined by Aso Rock, not treason as defined by the laws of our country. I was very pleased on that day. In fact, I didn’t know there was a stay at home order that day. I was looking for an extra-rim for my Land Cruiser Jeep. And I was told that all the Igbo boys at Alaba, Mushin, Surulere, etc. did not go to markets. It was when I was going round that I saw all Igbo shops closed. And I was informed that it was in obedience to the stay-at-home order by MASSOB. I was impressed.
The level of cooperation, the level of support was tremendous, and I can tell you that the government is scared that is why they are hurrying to call it treason. I am prepared to defend Uwazuruike, the leader of MASSOB anywhere if they want to charge him for treason. I am prepared to support him morally, I am prepared to support him legally. It is not treasonable. As a senior member of the Bar, as a senior lawyer in this country who has practised Law for far more than 10 years, I can tell you that it is not treasonable.
