Emma Ogu
29 June 2009
interview
Lagos — Leader of Movement for the Actualisation of Sovereign State of Biafra, Chief Ralph Uwazuruike spoke to Senior Reporter, EMMA OGU on plans by his movement to mourn the death of President Omar Bongo of Gabon. He also accuses South east governors of not delivering on their campaign promises
ARE you aware of the death of President Omar Bongo of Gabon?
Yes I am aware of it. God will grant his soul eternal rest in his kingdom for his love for Ndigbo and entire Biafrans.
There is the opinion that Ndigbo should declare a day of morning for him in view of his assistance to the race during the civil war.
I can tell you now that MASSOB has concluded arrangement to send a high powered delegation to Gabon to commiserate with the government and people of the country especially his immediate. We are going to declare a special day of morning here for him. The date will be announced on the 30th of this month. President Bongo is not a man any Igbo man should be in a hurry to forget. We are going to hold a ceremony here because many people cannot go to Gabon with us. MASSOB is going to organize a befitting ceremony for him in Biafran land. That is just our plan at the moment. We have worked out several things we shall do to mourn him including hoisting of our flags and that of Gabon, observing prayers for him and may be match past.
One had expected that the MASSOB leader will lead such a delegation to his funeral?
Yes I will lead the delegation to Gabon. We shall have interaction with Gabonese authorities, his children and the Igbo community in Gabon. It will be an opportunity to thank the family for the love of their father to Ndigbo. For some logistic reasons, it was not possible for us to fly to Gabon during his burial but right now we have concluded arrangement to be there any time from next week to condole with the family. Our radio station is also going to air documentary on his life and times especially his generosity to the people of Biafra during the difficulty days.
In what capacity is your team going to Gabon?
MASSOB represents Biafra . So we are going as a delegation of Biafra.
You have floated another radio station, what do you want to achieve with that?
It is for the purpose of awareness to our struggle to liberate Biafra . For the first time now an Igbo man can tune his radio and hear Voice of Biafra. The television station will soon take off. That will tell you that the Biafran struggle is no more a child's play. Biafran struggle has gone global.
Formerly, the radio station was broadcasting from Washington D.C. where is the new one located?
When it was in Washington D.C, it was running just a weekly programme on Fridays but today you receive the signal every day from London . Our television station is also located there and we shall broadcast twenty four hours via satellite. All these we are doing for the propagation of Biafra .
What has been the attitude of Nigerian government to you since you were granted bail by the court? Has there been any move for dialogue?
In the first place I don't want any negotiation or dialogue. All I am asking for is Biafra . Any negotiation has to do with modalities on granting autonomous status to Biafra . But before I even honour any invitation you must know that the treason charge on me continues and most of my members are still in jail. They have just released Uchenna Madu but many others are still in prison there. So there has not been olive branch per say. The same persecution continues.
Are you aware that federal government is trying to dialogue with some of your friends in the South South at least to stop the militancy going on there?
Yes I am aware. Well, dialogue is part of democracy but for me, until I see the modalities for dialogue, I am not part of it.
It appears you have soft pedaled since you came out from prison?
No at all. What do you mean by soft-pedaling? I am not a militia. Mine is non-violence. Now we are talking of radio and television. I travel across the world every month now coordinating all our activities. How do I soft-pedal when every day I am on the road knocking on the door of who is who in the world for the Biafran struggle. It takes a lot of money to be on air via satellite both radio and television. So I don't like the word, soft-pedaling. Have I been carrying arms and ammunition? So non-violence is our principle of getting things done. I do more things today than I used to do them.
You started a campaign for justice over the Apo six killing to the point of threatening the federal government but it seems you have abandoned it. Are you now satisfied with the manner government is handling the issue?
I can tell you that we have not abandoned our demand for justice in the execution of the Igbo traders but one thing we don't like doing is to embark on anything that will project us as a violent group or anything we cannot control. On Apo six we are looking at strategy that will get us what we want. If we are embarking on a demonstration we have to manage it because this is something that involved death of Igbo traders in the North. If you don't manage such demonstration some miscreants will cash in on that and start killing people. We don't want ethnic killing. So we are taking our time to find a strategy that will pay us.
What is your relationship with the present South East governors like?
Who are the governors?
We mean those of Imo, Anambra, Enugu, Abia and Ebonyi
Whose governors are they? They are serving the Hausa people. Were they voted by any Igbo man? All these people you have mentioned can any of them stand up and say anybody voted for him? Let them come out. They are small school children who don't know their left and their right. Can any of them come out in the street and say he won the election? Let them come out. None of them won election. They are representing those who hand-picked them to be there. I don't relate with of them and I have no reason to relate with any of them. They are not working for the interest of our people because our people did not vote for them. So I have nothing to do with any of them and I don't recognize any of them whatsoever.
Even many of them who were taken to court I learnt they were paying up to N20 billion to win their cases. We know all these things. One little occasion that is a bit different is the case of Anambra state where MASSOB delivered Peter Obi. But he won the election only to invite Nigerian troops to kill MASSOB members. That is the only state in the South East you can say people voted because of Ojukwu. There was no election in the South East apart from Anambra. Look when there is election and you won, you have evidence to defend your election if you are taken to court. Then you will spend only a little money to defend your self. But because you did not win election you spend billions to defend your selection. The worst is that even when everybody knows there was no election the Supreme Court will come out and say there was election. Was it conducted in the house of Chief Justice?
You had some grievances against former president Obasanjo especially when your mother died during your incarceration. Is your mind still bitter or have you forgiven him?
Well as a Christian I should forgive him because I wasn't the only person he wronged. He wronged even his friend. The other day I was reading in the newspaper where Jim Nwobodo's bank was returned to him after eight years. Remember Jim Nwobodo was one of those who championed the cause even against the election of Alex Ekwueme his brother. Later Obasanjo whopped him like a child. I have forgiven him. The issue is that if you are an evil person it is God that will deliver you of your evilness.
Can you tell us one prison experience you will not forget ?
There was this case of federal government sending people to monitor me in prison. It started in Suleja. They sent State Security Service operative who disguised as a prisoner to monitor me in Prison. Later it was a prison official that discovered his true identity and they removed him. Then the one that surprised me was the case of Keffi prison. They guy a security operative came in as a prison and told me all sorts of stories. He said he is from Igbo Delta. So I was even feeding him in prison. But when I was released he followed me to Okwe. He said he was released too. He claimed he was working in the National Assembly and was brought to prison because he mismanaged the fund of the assembly. He came a month to my mother's funeral and started participating in the preparations. But my security monitored him and found out he was making midnight calls relating information to his head office. When I discovered that he was an SSS man I laughed and gave him money to go back to Abuja.
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