By Phil Okose, Onitsha
The Movement for Actualisation of Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) said, on Monday, that it would mark its 22nd year anniversary on September 13, 2021.
MASSOB founder and leader, Chief Ralph Uwazuruike, consequently renewed his earlier call on Unrepresented Nations and People’s Organisation, UNPO, to pressurise the UN and the developed countries of the world not to look the other way while more human lives and properties are being wasted on daily basis in Nigeria.
Recall that MASSOB was floated to pursue the realisation of a Republic of Biafra September 13,1999, by Uwazuruike through a non-violent process, as a result of observed marginalisation of the Igbo population and areas in Nigeria.
MASSOB, in a statement in Onitsha, Anambra state, said that as she remembered the founding of the movement at No. 22, Ajijedidum Street, off Agunlejika Street, Ijesha-tedo, around the Surulere area of Lagos, Nigeria, by her leader, Chief Ralph Uwazuruike, it had become necessary to call on the leadership of Unrepresented Nations and People’s Organisations, UNPO, to pressurise the world body and other Western Nations to hasten the separation process of Biafra from Nigeria without it resulting to another civil war.
“The internationally-renowned non-violence separatist movement expressed regret and worry that the United Nations, UN and Western countries are always indifferent, slow and not being proactive to responding to the problem of the oppressed people in Africa until such problems result in full scale civil war and conflicts.”
Citing cases of Southern Sudan (Darfur region), Somalia, Rwanda, Congo, Liberia and others, BIM-MASSOB in the statement signed by Uwazuruike’s personal assistant on media matters, Elder Chris Mocha, said that United Nations and the developed countries of the world waited till the problems of these African countries escalated to war and genocide, urging UN to recognise Biafra, based on the 1967-1970 civil war it fought with Nigeria.
According to him, ‘the constant humiliation the people of Eastern Nigeria (now Biafra) have continued to suffer in the hands of successive governments in Nigeria has now been fully orchestrated by the Muhammadu Buhari-led federal government.”
This, he stated, was encapsulated in the memorandum that was sent to the US state department by various self-determination groups in Europe and other parts of the world on April 19, 2007, which was a day set aside for peaceful protests across the world in support of the course of MASSOB.
Uwazuruike, who went down memory lane, said that Soviet Union had, in 1991, separated into 15 independent states, that in 1992, Czechoslovakia separated into Czech and Slovakia Republics, Eritrea in 1991 also separated from Ethiopia, Singapore separated from Malaysia while Sweden separated from Norway.
Continuing he said that “just recently, East-Timor, a tiny populations of about 821,000 people in May 21, 2002 separated from Indonesia stating that, during this period under our watch, Serbia and Montenegro during a world cup football tournament in July 2006 were separated.”
“Kosovo, part of Serbia, a smaller country of less than 10 million people, separated on February 17, 2008, South Sudan separated from Sudan on July 9, 2011, now as the newest world’s country.”
Uwazuruike wondered why, in the case of Biafra, with a population of over 50 million people, that all the pleas to UN and other developed countries of the world seemed to have fallen on deaf ears even when Biafrans have suffered severe persecutions and wasted more human lives and properties than these countries they separated and granted independent status in Europe and America.”