We want Biafra, not amnesty – MASSOB

Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) has taken a swipe at the National Chairman of the All Pro- gressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Chief Victor Umeh, over his recent call for amnesty for members of the organisation, saying what it needs is not amnesty, but a Biafran nation.
Chief Umeh had, while addressing journalists in Enugu earlier in the week, urged the Federal Govern- ment to institute an amnesty programme for the rehabili- tation of Igbo youths who had been involved in MAS- SOB’s affairs.

But faulting Umeh’s call, the Director of Informa- tion for Aba region, Sunny Okereafor, said it was not for Umeh to speak and make such request on behalf of MASSOB.
Describing Umeh as one of those few Igbo politi- cians who had allegedly been thwarting MASSOB’s efforts at actualising the Biafran state because they wanted to remain relevant in the government of Nige- ria, Okereafor said amnesty should only be extended to criminals, which he said their members were not.
“Who is Umeh in the first place to speak for MASSOB and talk about amnesty? He
should first of all address is- sues affecting his small par- ty, APGA, which has been bedevilled by crisis over the years, before talking about MASSOB and his amnesty theorem.
“We are aware of the ef- forts people like him have made at every point in hand to thwart Ralph Uwazur- uike’s efforts through MAS- SOB to actualise Biafra, a project started by the late Eze Igbo Gburugburu, Chief Chukwuemeka Odimegwu Ojukwu, because they want to remain relevant in a rotten system,” he said.
Okereafor stated that no matter what the likes of Umeh may say about MAS- SOB and its members, the organisation had come to stay and would intensify its struggle through its non- violent approach to actualise the state of Biafra, where he said the Igbo would no lon- ger be treated as slaves.