Uwazuruike-led MASSOB shuts down Owerri
Members of the splinter group of the Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereignty State of Biafra (MASSOB) and the Biafra Independent Movement (BIM) on Monday stormed the major roads and streets of Owerri the state capital celebrating the Biafra Independence Day.
The protesters who arrived in buses from the 27 local government areas of the state with Biafra flags and posters bearing various inscriptions depicting commitment to Biafra state, wore military uniforms and chanted Biafran songs and solidarity slogans.
The protesters in their thousands comprising men, women and youths in a commando-like operation arrived the ever busy Douglas road by 8am from where they moved to the popular Ama JK junction, Wetheral road, Tetlow road, Royce Road and Bank road.
Traders and civil servants thronged out enmasse cheering them shouting “on Biafra we stand”, the protesters defied the early scorching sun and later moved to the imposing Maria Assumpta roundabout where they finally berthed.
Speaking in a telephone chat with the Daily Times later, the leader of BIM, Chief Ralph Uwazuruike, claimed responsibility for the protest, adding that it was organized to prove his irrevocable commitment to the actualization of the Biafra project.
He boasted: “I challenge anybody who claims to be of a higher command and authority than myself in the struggle to actualized Biafra to come out and prove his mettle. Of course, nobody, group, or association can do this because they lack the capacity and membership to do so.”
He expressed satisfaction with the peaceful protest which, he said, is a demonstration optimism that the Biafra project would eventually be realized in no distant time.
According to him, the May 30, 2017 sit at home order initiated by other Biafra groups was a fluke describing them as jokers whose intentions were borne out of greed and selfishness.
