Posted by From NWABUEZE OKONKWO, Onitsha on
Aggrieved members of the Movement for the Actualization of Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) who allegedly resigned their membership of the movement en masse recently are now demanding what they called proper accountability from their leader, Chief Ralph Uwazuruike. The fund, they claimed, runs into millions of naira.
• Faction battles Uwazuruike, demands N30million membership dues
Aggrieved members of the Movement for the Actualization of Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) who allegedly resigned their membership of the movement en masse recently are now demanding what they called proper accountability from their leader, Chief Ralph Uwazuruike. The fund, they claimed, runs into millions of naira.
About 20,000 members of MASSOB had claimed to have resigned their membership on the grounds that Uwazuruike had allegedly sold out the MASSOB agenda, which borders on actualization of the Biafran Republic, as well as abandoning his followers who were detained along with him in the various prisons for alleged treasonable felony, while he (Uwazuruike) now seems to be dining with politicians.
In a recent statement issued in Onitsha, Anambra State, the spokesman of the aggrieved members, Sylva Ilozuruike, demanded that Uwazuruike should account for all monies he allegedly collected as membership dues and levies from inception in 1999 till date.
Ilozuruike, who expressed disappointment that Uwazuruike has failed to organize befitting funeral ceremonies for all the slain members of the movement, including the alleged 700 Onitsha massacre, 50 Owerri massacre, 50 Ebonyi massacre and 11 Okwe massacre involving "Iron Lady", alleged that between October, 2005 when Uwazuruike was arrested and detained, and October 2007 when he regained temporary freedom, N20 million was generated and paid into an account which Uwazuruike is the only signatory.
On how the funds were generated, Ilozuruike said that all the MASSOB directors pay N5,000 as monthly dues during monthly meetings, while Chief area administrators and administrators pay N3,000 and N2,000 each monthly, just as provincial officers (POs), district officers (DOs) and ordinary members pay N1,500, N1,000 and N500 respectively per head.
According to him, "we are not talking of monies given him by top politicians who we know, but cannot mention to avoid insulting or exposing prominent Igbo politicians, neither are we talking about how he increased MASSOB Identity (ID) Card procurement fee from N100 to N1,000 per male member and N500 per female member which attracted over N10 million from all the registered members".
However, Uwazuruike in an interview with Daily Sun in the MASSOB Freedom House in Okwe, Onuimo council area said that MASSOB was still intact contrary to claims that some people broke out from the group, challenging those claiming to have broken away to properly identify themselves.