Uwazuruike Blames IPOB For Violence

The leadership crisis
rocking the Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafara (MASSOB) has taken a new twist as the founder,  Chief Ralph Uwazuruike  has announced the transformation of the group from MASSOB to Biafara Independent Movement (BIM) in line with the strategic roadmap of the organisation.
Uwazuruike, who disclosed this in Owerri, the Imo State capital, also blamed the Indigenous People of Biafara (IPOB) for the protests and violence that have rocked the South-East and South-South regions of the country in recent times.
He urged the group (IPOB) to take their grievances and protest to the nation’s seat of power in Abuja and Lagos instead of the continued harassment and oppression of the people of the South-East who they claim they want to liberate.
The group has visited violence and death on Ndigbo in the course of their agitations. Our people have been forced to shut down their businesses and sources of livelihood and sometimes have had to flee for their lives, leading to undue economic stagnation of our people.  These protests should be taken to the seat of power in Abuja and Lagos where it would be felt the most if they are sincere.
The continued oppression of our people in the guise of liberation will only succeed in generating ill will against the struggle.  And at a time like this when we are hoping for referendum on the issue of Biafara, the same people they want to liberate may vote against realisation of the sovereign state of Biafara due to the hardship they had suffered under (IPOB’s) reign of violence”, Uwazuruike said.
He therefore apologized to the people of the South-East especially the families of those who lost their lives and properties, for the hardship they have had to endure in the course of the IPOB protest.
He noted that the need to transmit MASSOB to BIM became necessary following the violent activities of some dissident members of MASSOB who were expelled for resorting to violence and fraud in the pursuit of the struggle.
He named Uchenna Madu, the former National Director of Information in MASSOB as one of such dissidents whose activities are inconsistent with the non-violence ideology of MASSOB in the realisation of a Sovereign Bafara State.