Bolade Omonijo
5 November 2007
LEADER of the Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB), Chief Ralph Uwazuruike, yesterday, sounding defiant, said he had no regrets for the activities that led to his incarceration for two years.
He told Vanguard editors that unless the spate of alleged injustice against the Igbo in Nigeria was checked, his organisation would continue to challenge the marginalisation of the South-East and campaign for a separate state for the Igbo people.
His words: "I have no regrets whatsoever for the activities of MASSOB. In any case, since I was released, I have been doing the same thing.
The clamour for Biafra is still on inasmuch as the injustice in Nigeria continues. I still call for a separate state for Ndigbo inasmuch as they are discriminated against in Nigeria. There is no level playing field and we will continue our campaign."
Explaining the various forms of alleged peculiar discrimination against the Ndigbo, Chief Uwazuruike said the South-East is the only zone in the country without an international airport. He also argued that the zone has the least number of states, local government areas and the least monthly allocation from the federation account.
"Above all, there is the issue of security. Our lives and property in Nigeria are not secured. Our people are not safe in Northern Nigeria.
When there is a publication considered offensive in Denmark, it is Ndigbo that are attacked in the North even when there is no problem in Denmark. That is very important to us as a people and it is unacceptable to us as an organisation."
On the three-month bail granted him, Chief Uwazuruike said: "I was not granted bail, rather I was given 90 days to bury my mother. It's part of the marginalisation and injustice I talked about. It is against natural justice," he said.
The MASSOB chieftain compared his experience to the release of Oodua Peoples Congress leaders- Chief Gani Adams and Dr. Frederick Fasehun- and the leader of the Niger Delta People's Volunteer Force, Alhaji Mujahedeen Asari-Dokubo, who, according to him, were freed unconditionally.
"All of them have been freed, no conditions, nothing. But, in my case, my mother had to die in order for me to be released. How do I bury my mother within 90 days? I have no money having been in detention for two years. It further shows the hatred for Ndigbo in Nigeria," Uwazuruike said.
Chief Uwazuruike who rejected any description of him as a secessionist argued that, "no law in Nigeria talks about secession.
What you have in the law is treason. S. 37 (1) of the Penal Code talks about any person who wages war against Nigeria and the punishment is death by hanging. S.37 (2) talks about anyone who conspires with others to wage war against Nigeria.
I am not levying war against Nigeria. I am not conspiring with anyone to levy war.
What I am saying is not secession, but self-determination, the right an individual has to say I want to be on my own.
"What I advocate is self-determination by non-violent means. I was a student in India for 10 years and there, I learnt about and borrowed the method adopted by Mahatma Gandhi. We don't believe in ethnic cleansing, we believe in the power of agitation, education and persuasion. For instance in August 2004, we organised a stay-at-home and people thought it was a child's play, but it was obeyed by the people.
If I say people should stay at home today, it would even be more effective because people believe more in me and the cause now than in 2004," he said.
Chief Uwazuruike dismissed the 1999 Constitution as a military document to which Nigerians made no contribution.
"The document is being questioned by many people. It was written by Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar. Did you make any contribution to it? No? Did I ? No.
It is more of a military document, a military pamphlet. It is not acceptable to me. It cannot be taken serious," the MASSOB. leader said.
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