Posted by CAJETAN MMUTA, Asaba on
OHANAEZE Ndigbo, the apex Igbo socio-cultural organisation, has said that it would not support the release of the detained leader of the Movement for the Actualisation of Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB), Chief Ralph Uwazuruike, urging him and his members to recant their agitation for the realisation of the Republic of Biafra.
OHANAEZE Ndigbo, the apex Igbo socio-cultural organisation, has said that it would not support the release of the detained leader of the Movement for the Actualisation of Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB), Chief Ralph Uwazuruike, urging him and his members to recant their agitation for the realisation of the Republic of Biafra.
The organisation stated this just as it urged the Federal Government to set up a panel of inquiry into the recent burning of Zik's House in Onitsha, Anambra State with the aim of bringing the perpetrators to book.
Secretary General of Ohanaeze Chief Joe Achuzia, made the position of the group known in an exclusive interview with Daily Champion weekend in Asaba, Delta State.
Achuzia said that at no time did Ohanaeze or Ndigbo approve the cause of MASSOB, warning proponents of the ethnic militia group to fashion out their agitations for whatever reasons under a new garb and not hide under the guise of Biafra to realise their agenda.
The Ohanaeze scribe said the warning had become necessary because of the apparent public misconception at the mention of any Igbo cause that Ndigbo were the architects and activists of MASSOB, stressing that at no time did Ohanaeze or Ndigbo give their backing to the activities of the non-violent group.
"Ohanaeze cannot lend support to Uwazuruike other than ask Uwazuruike and his group to recant. They can fight against Igbo marginalisation if that is what they are fighting for under a different name, not actualisation of the sovereign state of Biafra.
"It is unfortunate that every time MASSOB is mentioned, everybody looks on the Igbo as if they were the architect and activists of MASSOB.
"I want to make it abundantly clear that at no time did Ohanaeze or Ndigbo in any meeting of any kind sit down to fashion out an organisation called MASSOB," Achuzia further stated. He insisted that the Igbo apex body was saddled with onerous task of playing advisory role to the younger generation on the best road to take for their future and not encourage them to break the law.
He also stated that the resolve by Ndigbo not to join MASSOB in the agitation for the realisation of Biafra must not be seen as cowardice even after the Igbo fought in the three and half years war that almost brought the nation to its knees.
"They (MASSOB members) can fight for their future under any garb they like. Ours as fathers is to tell them there is no road in that road they are trying to pursue. We have called them, we've talked to them. As far as they are concerned, they feel that our inability to see their point of view is cowardice. The people who fought a three and half years gruelling war, do they look like cowards or people who are afraid? No," he added.
On the burnt Zik's house, Chief Achuzia said the security operatives in the state have a case to answer on the incident and called on the federal government to set up a panel of inquiry to look into the matter with a view to bringing the culprits to book.
While exonerating the MASSOB members from the act, he said no sensible Igbo could be mad enough to break security barrier to set the national monument of the late Zik ablaze.