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Nairaland Forum / Nairaland / General / Politics / Igbos Have The Right To Clamour For Self Determination-orji Uzor Kalu (967 Views)
North Cautions Yoruba, Southerners On Clamour For 1963 Constitution / Orji Uzor Kalu & His Daughter Swim Together At Home / Orji Uzor Kalu Eats In A 'mama Put ' (photos) (2) (3) (4)
Igbos Have The Right To Clamour For Self Determination-orji Uzor Kalu by frankdoz1: 7:18am On Dec 07, 2015 |
IPOB women give 7-day ultimatum to FG over Kanu
S-East not advocating secession — Ebonyi govt
By Kenneth Ehigiator, Chidi Nkwopara, Daniel Eteghe,
Peter Okutu , Ugochukwu Alaribe & Chimaobi Nwaiwu
In a strategy designed to separate himself from a
controversial movement that parades two factions, the
leader of the Movement for the Actualization of the
Sovereign State of Biafra, MASSOB, Chief Ralph
Uwazuruike, has announced a new name, Biafra
Independent Movement, BIM, for the group.
This came as former Governor of Abia State, Orji Uzor
Kalu declared that the Igbo have the full right to agitate
for self-determination.
Chief Uwazuruike, who made the announcement,
yesterday, while addressing the press in Owerri, also
said that he was irked by the bad corporate image some
dissidents of MASSOB, were attracting to the group.
“The change in name became absolutely necessary
because of the sad introduction of violence by the
disgruntled dissidents and this is at variance with the
non-violence stance of MASSOB over the years,”
Uwazuruike said.
He said that real loyalists of MASSOB feel ashamed to be
associated with violence, promising that they will
restructure MASSOB to make it the youth wing of the
Biafra Independent Movement.
While saying that there is vicarious liability in civil law,
Chief Uwazuruike equally recalled how he recruited
Nnamdi Kanu in 1989, to head Radio Biafra.
“I recruited Nnamdi Kanu in 1989, when I established
Radio Biafra and appointed him the director of the
establishment. He started preaching hatred and
brainwashing the youths. MASSOB sacked him,”
Uwazuruike recalled.
Answering a question, Uwazuruike said he had been
imprisoned 16 times in the past and wondered why and
how the heavens should fall because Kanu was
incarcerated for just one month.
He pleaded with the Federal Government to release Kanu
and Benjamin Onwuka, a former student of Emmanuel
College, Owerri, and chieftain of MASSOB, who had been
in prison for years.
Uwazuruike reminded those preaching violence that
Biafra could not be achieved through violence, pointing
out that, “the South East is landlocked and there is no
way we can win the battle for freedom through violence.”
He reminded followers of Indigenous People of Biafra,
IPOB, that if they close the Niger Bridge for one month
or more, it will not affect activities in either Lagos or
Abuja.
“Closing the Niger Bridge will only scuttle the business
activities of Ndigbo. The protest in the South East, as
arranged and implemented by IPOB, ended up
unleashing a high degree of suffering on Ndigbo ,”
Uwazuruike said.
He, however, blamed the Directorate of State Services,
DSS, for bungling the arrest, detention and prosecution
of Mr. Kanu.
“The DSS is largely responsible for the protest. They
arrested Kanu, charged him for bailable offences and the
court granted him bail, but the DSS refused to release
him. They later came up with treason charges and asked
the court to give them 90 days to conclude
investigations. This cannot hold in democracy,”
Uwazuruike said.
The right to clamour
Similarly, former Governor Orji Uzor Kalu of Abia State
affirmed that the right of the Igbo had been embedded in
the United Nation’s charter, which gave them the full
right to ask for a secession if they were no longer
comfortable in living together as one country called
Nigeria.
Chief Raph Uwazuruike and
Late Ojukwu
Chief Raph Uwazuruike and Late Ojukwu
Speaking to newsmen at the Murtala Muhammed Airport,
Lagos, he stressed that the way and manner the youths
were going about the demonstration was wrong as they
had turned what was supposed to be a peaceful protest
into violent killings and destruction of properties.
He said: “Those boys are right, they have a right to
demonstrate, but not violent demonstration, not killing
soldiers because if I am a Commander- in -Chief, and
you kill one of my soldiers, I will kill everybody. You
cannot kill soldiers. You cannot kill police. You have a
right to say no, we want our own Republic. The United
Nations charter gives them the right to ask for self-
determination. It is not a right of determination to go
and destroy people’s properties, to go and destroy
Nigerian Armed Forces, whether it is Nigerian Army,
Nigerian Navy or Nigerian Police. These are not the
rights. They have the right to speak for self-
determination. This is the full right.
“If I am president, I will set up either traditional rulers
and some political leaders to go and ask the boys what
they really want, what is really their problem, what can
be done to stop them from asking for this. This is how
Boko Haram started killing members of Catholic Church,
and as a Catholic, I spoke vehemently against it. I told
you airport correspondents that they will finish killing
the Catholic and will go and start killing everybody and
it happened.
“When kidnapping just started, then I was governor, they
were kidnapping white people and I spoke out. I said
when they finished kidnapping white people and there
were no more white man to kidnap, they would start
kidnapping us and that is what is happening in the
country today.
“So, I will advise the Federal Government. This is a
federation, you need to manage the federation. Some
people must ask for self-determination. It is the
management of the people that matters. President
Buhari, as a matter of fact, should set out traditional
rulers, set out people, set out securities and intelligent
agencies to intervene. They should be more intelligent
than policemen or military people carrying guns. They
should find a way and tell the boys that what they are
doing is not the right thing to do. So, it is left for the
Federal Government. This is the right time to nip the
agitation in the bud, but not by force. It is a wrong
strategy hearing people saying that we will quench it by
force. We cannot quench anything by force because it is
their right to ask for self- determination.
“But is it the right thing to do in a bigger country like
ours? It is only a president that doesn’t know what he
wants that will want a section of his country to go. I
think negotiation is part of democracy . I have seen your
Enugu-Port Harcourt, Aba-Umahia express road that
have not been built, I will build it in two years, I have
seen your Awka-Onitsha express way that is not built, I
will build it in two years, I have seen that your Umuahia-
Ohafia to Aruchukuwu to Cross River express way is not
built, I will do it. I have seen that your Arondizuogu-
Okigwe express way is not done, I will do it. I have seen
your Enugu to Makurdi express way is bad, people are
dying there every day, which was what I quarrelled with
the government over it in 2001.
“I said our roads are bad. Federal roads are very bad and
they are taking it for granted. Check what I have said ten
years ago, they are reccurring today and the government
is still playing with it, people are still doing politics
with it,” he stressed.
7-day ultimatum
Meantime, women members of the IPOB have handed a
seven day ultimatum calling on the Federal Government
to release the detained leader of the group, Nnamdi
Kanu, or face its wrath.
The women, who were dressed in Biafran emblems and
Kanu’s portraits, vowed to embark on the next stage of
its struggle to free Kanu including several activities
which they claimed will embarrass the Federal
Government.
The group, who handed the ultimatum while protesting
along the Enyimba area and the Ariaria junction of the
Enugu-Port Harcourt expressway, Aba, warned that
Nigeria was sliding towards danger with the continued
detention of Kanu.
“We are handing a seven day ultimatum to the Federal
Government to release Nnamdi Kanu. It is either they
release him or face our wrath. In Igbo land, when women
embark on a protest march, it means that the matter at
hand had become serious.We decided to hold this
protest to appeal to the Federal Government to release
him.
“We can’t understand why the government is still
detaining Nnamdi Kanu since he has been granted bail.
IPOB sees this as part of the larger plot in the
marginalization of Ndigbo. This is another proof that
Ndigbo are not wanted in Nigeria, if a freedom fighter
like Nnamdi Kanu, will be detained indefinitely.”
Remain non violent —Igboezue
Adding its own voice, the Igboezue International
Association of Nigeria and Diaspora had appealed to all
the pro-Biafra groups in Nigeria and in Diaspora, to
ensure that all their protests and demonstrations were
done peacefully because Igbo were not known to be
violent people, but peaceful even in the face of
marginalization.
National President of the association, Elder Pius Okoye
while briefing newsmen in Onitsha, yesterday, said there
was room for peaceful protest worldwide and the
Nigerian constitution also provided room for peaceful
protest and demonstration.
“Government is a continuum. It is not a private business.
The last National Conference was well represented by all
parts of the country. Nigerians expected continuity
regarding the outcome of that National Conference, but
we were disappointed that no mention had been made of
it. However, we believe the implementation of its
recommendations would bring peace in Nigeria,” he said.
Biafra
Biafra
He said IPOB and MASSOB had the right to protest and
demonstrate as far as it was peaceful and non-violent
and within the ambit of the law, warning that “involving
or allowing violent miscreants to infiltrate their fold will
make nonsense of their agitations that have been
recognized worldwide.
“It is the duty of the police to control protesters and
prevent them from destroying lives and properties, or
involving in violent activities. The military should not
shoot at protesters like animals,“he said.
Okoye told IPOB and MASSOB to scrutinize their
members to avoid criminal elements infiltrating their
folds and cashing in on that to rob and loot people’s
property, after Nigerians and even the churches have
testified through their publications that they had been
peaceful in all their activities.
No to secession— Ebonyi govt
Over the weekend, Ebonyi State government revealed
that the South East geopolitical zone of the country was
not advocating secession contrary to the wave of the
agitation rocking the zone.
Briefing newsmen on the outcome of the state executive
council meeting at the Government House in Abakaliki,
the state commissioner for Information and State
Orientation, Sen. Emmanuel Onwe added that the state
government having carried out a critique of the whole
situation was not in support of secession or any act of
abuse on the government of the federation.
He appealed to the Biafran agitators to channel their
grievances to the appropriate quarters and avoid
incidents of violence and destruction of properties
belonging to innocent citizens of the nation.
Continue Reading |
Re: Igbos Have The Right To Clamour For Self Determination-orji Uzor Kalu by Nobody: 8:11am On Dec 07, 2015 |
What kind of jampacked scatter news is this for crying out loud. 1 Like |
Re: Igbos Have The Right To Clamour For Self Determination-orji Uzor Kalu by BoleynDynaSTY(f): 8:39am On Dec 07, 2015 |
Tthis uwazuruike should go n rest...I came to read about OUK and this man's story took over the whole page 1 Like |
Re: Igbos Have The Right To Clamour For Self Determination-orji Uzor Kalu by explorer250(m): 8:53am On Dec 07, 2015 |
I lost my interest when he said that se is landlocked. This man is a paid fgn agent 1 Like |
Re: Igbos Have The Right To Clamour For Self Determination-orji Uzor Kalu by dinachi(m): 9:10am On Dec 07, 2015 |
explorer250:He just told you the truth. |
Re: Igbos Have The Right To Clamour For Self Determination-orji Uzor Kalu by Nobody: 9:17am On Dec 07, 2015 |
dinachi: That is a big lie. Where has he been to in the SE except state capitals? 1 Like |
Re: Igbos Have The Right To Clamour For Self Determination-orji Uzor Kalu by Nobody: 9:23am On Dec 07, 2015 |
explorer250: Is Uwazuruike just realizing SE is landlock now or was he using massob to make money? Did Ojukwu also knew SE was landlock? Now this is while it will take along while before a leader in the class of Ojukwu will resize again. Ojukwu visited my village which is almost at the boundary of Nigeria. Ojukwu saw the waterways of those areas but this men only stay in their office to make noise. Only a fool fight for what he doesn't want. Uwazuruike maybe in this class. 1 Like |
Re: Igbos Have The Right To Clamour For Self Determination-orji Uzor Kalu by EasternPride: 9:59am On Dec 07, 2015 |
Uwazuruike is a compound fool, a traitor and sell out and his words keep justifying it. 1 Like |
Re: Igbos Have The Right To Clamour For Self Determination-orji Uzor Kalu by explorer250(m): 10:19am On Dec 07, 2015 |
dinachi:why dont u google map of igboland? Dnt u knw that azumini in abia state is nearer to atlantic ocean than porthacourt? That is the reasons smugglers use that route 2 Likes |
Re: Igbos Have The Right To Clamour For Self Determination-orji Uzor Kalu by explorer250(m): 10:22am On Dec 07, 2015 |
soulpeppersoup:where are u from? |
Re: Igbos Have The Right To Clamour For Self Determination-orji Uzor Kalu by Nobody: 1:13pm On Dec 07, 2015 |
explorer250: A village in Arochukwu local government. |
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