BIAFRA LEADERSHIP: MASSOB sacks Ralph Uwazuruike, picks new leadership

The Movement for the Actualization of Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) on Monday inaugurated a new leadership for the Movement, after the national officers including the zonal and regional administrators of the group formerly announced the expulsion of Chief Ralph Uwazuruike as MASSOB national leader.

The new leadership was headed by the group’s former National Director of Information, Uchenna Madu, while Ugwuoke Ibem Ugwuoke, emerged as National Secretary.



MASSOB at the well attended ceremony, warned Uwazuruike “to stop parading himself as MASSOB leader or using Ojukwu’s name to dupe Ndigbo or garner personal fame to pursue his political ambition.”

Reading a resolution and communiqué signed by the national officers and administrators at Okwe, MASSOB’s Headquarters, the New National Secretary, stated that “the development is to redeem and revive the lost spirit and confidence of the Biafra revolution in our people and Biafra friends and sympathizers.”

“A vote of no confidence and total rejection has been passed on Ralph Uwazuruike. His inability to sustain and maintain Ojukwu’s dream of Biafra actualization, his deviation into the mainstream of Nigerian politics and using the Biafra struggle to enhance his selfish political ambition in Nigeria are the reasons for our rejection of his association with Biafra struggle,” the communiqué added.

Markets closed in Aba

In Aba, Abia State, members of the group warned traders across markets not to open for business today.

It was gathered that IPOB members visited Ariaria International, Ngwa Road, Cemetery and Ekeoha markets with public address system announcing to the traders to shut their shops.

A cross section of traders, who spoke to newsmen, condemned the order and appealed to the IPOB members to allow the markets open.

According to them: ”They should allow the markets open. Any trader, who wants to join the protest is free, but a total closure of the market will hurt us severely.”

A trader, Mrs. Nwamaka Nnadi, who also faulted the ‘order,’ said the announcement warning traders to steer clear of the markets started on Sunday, as some pro Biafra agitators were observed in some areas, ‘spreading the message.’

Pledging their loyalty

But traders under the aegis of South-East Amalgamated Markets Traders Association, SEAMATA, yesterday, stated that they were in total support of the pro-Biafra groups but condemned the invasion of markets by the agitators.

The traders said that contrary to media reports that they were against Biafra agitation, they were indeed in support of the efforts to restore Biafra through non-violence and not through violent agitation as obtained in the recent protests embarked upon by the agitators during which they forcefully entered into the markets and harassed the traders for opening their shops.

President-General of SEAMATA, Chief Okwudili Ezenwankwo in a press statement he jointly signed with the Secretary-General, Mr. Temple Udeh, noted that in as much as the traders support the movement for the state of Biafra, they were in total condemnation of a situation where the pro-Biafra agitators/protesters allowed themselves to be infiltrated by some miscreants who cashed in on the protest to loot and do all sorts of things in the markets.

SEAMATA further stated that the invasion of the markets by Biafra supporters in the name of protest which led to vandalization and destruction of shops, vehicles and other valuables belonging to their fellow Igbo was not only condemnable but unacceptable.

He added: “To set the record straight and for the purpose of clarity, the traders are not challenging the constitutional right of peaceful assembly of any one. We only condemn the attitude of the protesters (or miscreants that infiltrated them) that went into markets, chased the traders out and closed the entrances to the market”.