Posted by By Tony Osauzo, Benin. on
Movement for the Actualization of Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) has called on the international community to try former Nigerian President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, for alleged genocide which his administration committed against its members.
Movement for the Actualization of Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) has called on the international community to try former Nigerian President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, for alleged genocide which his administration committed against its members.
Speaking to journalists in Benin yesterday, MASSOB Regional Administrator in charge of Central Region (Edo State), Mr. Rufus Alozie, alleged that more than 2,000 MASSOB members have been killed, while more than 1,000 others were languishing in jail without trial.
He disclosed that in Edo State more than 20 of MASSOB members have been declared missing since 2005.
According to him, the killing of Igbos, particularly in the Northern part of the country, which made Chief Dim Odumegwu Ojukwu to declare the State of Biafra in 1967, was still going on in Nigeria.
'No amount of intimidation or killing would stop MASSOB from achieving its dream because Biafra is non-negotiable," Mr. Alozie warned, and called on the international community to tell the Nigerian government to leave Biafra alone, just as Cameroon, which was originally part of Nigeria, was allowed to go its own way.
He challenged President Umaru Yar'Adua to release all MASSOB members being detained without trial if he really believes in the rule of law, adding that detaining people without trial offends against the African charter on Peoples and Human Rights to which Nigeria is a signatory.
Mr. Alozie announced that MASSOB would celebrate 41st anniversary of Biafra on May 30, 2008, with a walk from Okwe to Enugu via Owerri and Onitsha in a non-violent manner to protest the continued killing and unlawful detention of its members.