(Aloysius Attah, ONITSHA)
The leader of Biafra Independence movement, BIM, Chief Ralph Uwazuruike, yesterday, recalled how the absence of Igbos in the key Political appointments made by former Nigerian military Heads of State and presidents, led him to float movement for actualization of sovereign state of Biafra, MASSOB.
Uwazuruike recalled that on August 7, 1999 (when he was president of Igbo National Council Of Chief) he made public the communique of the group’s National Delegates Conference that was mandated to work out the modalities and pursue the immediate actualisation of sovereign state of Biafra based on the principle of “non- violence” adopted by the Indian people in their struggle for independence.
The Biafran nationalist leader, speaking through a member of the Biafra Elders-in-council of BIM, Mazi Chris Mocha, advised Igbo leaders, who for any reason were indisposed to lend support to this cause to stay out of it, warning that any attempt by any Igbo leader to sabotage the objective of actualising Biafra as an independent State would incur the wrath of the Igbo community.
Uwazuruike recalled that before the Obasanjo administration in the 2000s, Nigeria had been reduced diplomatically to a Hausa-Fulani country, pointing out that all the important foreign missions like those in the United States of America, Germany, China, Britain, France, Japan, Italy, Canada, South Africa, India, Brazil, etc were usually manned by them and in few instances with a sprinkle of Yoruba people. He complained that Igbo ambassadors were always posted to obscure corners of the globe like Equatorial Guinea or Mali.