ENUGU, Federal Republic of Nigeria. The Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra, on Monday, dismissed a claim by former President Olusegun Obasanjo who said that Biafra had died.
Obasanjo, while presenting a paper entitled, “Resurgent Biafra Agitation: Born in Error, Ignorance and Frustration,” at a programme organised by Nextier Advisory, in Abuja, last Friday, said Biafra was a dead issue.
The former president said the current agitation for Biafra was a hopeless and futile exercise.
Obasanjo advised the people of the South-East not to take the pro-Biafran agitators seriously, saying, “No right-thinking person who has experienced the horror of war will ever agitate for more war. Nigeria cannot afford to go from Boko Haram insurgency to any other insurgency under any guise.
“And on no account should we wittingly or unwittingly allow this to happen again.”
However, reacting to Obasanjo’s comment, MASSOB, through its Director of Information, Samuel Edeson, maintained that Biafra was not dead, and would never die.
Edeson, who stated this in a statement made available to our correspondent in Enugu, on Monday, noted that Obasanjo had tried to destroy the pro-Biafran group during his tenure as president.
The MASSOB spokesperson noted that the struggle for the actualisation of Biafra survived, despite alleged persecution by the Obasanjo administration, including the alleged killing of about 1,000 MASSOB members at Umulolo, Okigwe, in Imo State, on March 29, 2003.
According to Edeson, many MASSOB members lost their lives when Obasanjo ordered a clampdown on the group, which was then led by Ralph Uwazuruike, who was incarcerated and released after a long period in prison.
He said the pro-Biafran group would drag Obasanjo to the International Criminal Court for the alleged killings.
The statement read, “MASSOB wishes to tell Obasanjo that Biafra is not dead and will never die. Obasanjo should have known that despite the killing of over 1,000 MASSOB members at Umulolo, Okigwe, in Imo State, on March 29, 2003.
“The killing of MASSOB members in Onitsha, Anambra State in 2006/2007, and the detention of MASSOB members in various prisons in Nigeria never stopped our agitation.”
Edeson further alleged that Obasanjo attempted to bribe MASSOB leaders with ‘a bag of money’ for them to shun the agitation for Biafra.
He said the MASSOB leaders, at a meeting with Obasanjo in the Presidential Villa, Abuja, rejected the said bribe, which he claimed was in a ‘Ghana-must-go’ bag.
“Obasanjo said that he appointed Igbo men as ministers – what have these done to the Ndigbo? These (ministers) were the tools he used in destroying Igbo land. We shall drag Obasanjo to the International Criminal Court.
“In 2006, while Uwazuruike was in Keffi prison, Obasanjo invited us to Aso Rock where he promised us millions of naira. He also promised to send us out of the country for us to forget Uwazuruike to die in prison. But we rejected the offer,” Edeson said.
Obasanjo had expressed sadness that the Biafran agitation had also become an industry for those looking for money by hook or crook, particularly from sympathisers abroad.
Credit: Punch (Nigeria)
