Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) National Director of Information, Sunny Okereafor was livid when confronted with the allegation that the founder of the group, Chief Ralph Uwazuruike has been hired by the Federal Government to wear mask and testify against the IPOB leader, Nnamdi Kanu in the ongoing trial. Okereafor, who, in this interview spoke on behalf of his boss who was said to be in the United States said it was an insult for anybody to think that Uwazuruike can do that. He spoke with OKEY SAMPSON in Aba.
Nnamdi Kanu’s brother, Kanunta has lashed out at the founder of MASSOB/BIM, Chief Ralph Uwazuruike for describing the detained IPOB leader and his group as fraudsters, saying, the reverse was the case. What’s your reaction?
It is not for Chief Ralph Uwazuruike as a person or MASSOB as a group to start exchanging words with anybody because when he started the agitation for Biafra and hoisted the Biafran flag in Aba, Abia State in 1999, those people who are making noise now were nowhere to be found. Over the years, MASSOB has not only created awareness, it has rekindled the Biafran spirit in the minds of Ndigbo including those that are now insulting him.
In the said reaction, IPOB, through kanunta dubbed Uwazuruike, a kidnapper who abducted their leader in 2009. What have you to say on this?
No, Uwazuruike is not a kidnapper. What happened was that Uwazuruike gave Nnamdi Kanu the go ahead to establish Radio Biafra in London, but the IPOB leader registered the Radio station in his own name instead of MASSOB and when he came back to Umuahia, some MASSOB leaders went to their place to find out why he did that? Nobody kidnapped anybody, what we did was just to give him some lashes as a warning. What did we kidnap him with when we did not carry arms? If the brother was claiming that Uwazuruike kidnapped Nnamdi Kanu, how much did the family pay as ransom?
Uwazuruike’s problem with Nnamdi Kanu was said to have started when the former wanted to buy a property in London and the latter refused, saying it was not proper to use peoples’ money that way. Could that be correct?
That is not correct; forget about what they are telling you I have told you how the problem started. Uwazuruike gave Nnamdi Kanu money to establish Radio Biafra in London and the IPOB leader registered it in his name instead of MASSOB. I wouldn’t know why people will like us to be talking about Nnamdi Kanu who joined MASSOB 10 years after it was formed.
Is it true that MASSOB was classified as a terrorist group after the said kidnap of Nnamdi Kanu?
Don’t mind them. From the beginning, MASSOB adopted a non violent approach to the struggle and that has not changed. How could MASSOB have been listed as a terrorist when its members do not carry arms? All of us know the group that has been violent in its agitation and because of this has been listed as a terrorist group. We also know the group its members have been going around collecting money from government officials using the Biafra struggle as a cover.
Uwazuruike was accused of being the key witness for the Federal Government in her case against the IPOB leader. What’s your reaction?
This is laughable. How would a reasonable person think that Uwazuruike will be so scared as to wear mask to testify against Nnamdi Kanu or any other person for that matter if he so wish. The truth of the matter is that Uwazuruike who is currently in the United States attending a very important public function, has no intention of testifying against anybody in court, not to talk of wearing mask, that is an insult. Those talking this rubbish have no agenda, they have no programme. If they had, they should roll them out for the world to see.
They described Uwazuruike as the real fraudster who had used MASSOB to dupe Ndigbo millions of naira. How do you react to this?
They are talking nonsense. At the appropriate time, we will know those who have been collecting money from people including politicians without using them to do anything. Other groups have been penetrated by politicians, but MASSOB remains the odd one out and can never compromise its stand. They are speaking out of frustration and we don’t know why it should be so. Uwazuruike has gone to prison 16 times in the course of this struggle and during this period, he never insulted Chief Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu. I don’t know why for being detained just once, IPOB members have been raining abuses on Uwazuruike at the slightest opportunity.
