In the entire South-East and South-South Nigeria, no group is as popular and consistent in the agitation for a better deal for the Igbo race as the Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB).Hate or like them, you definitely cannot ignore the group. Their non-militant approach to the agitation makes it rather impossible to outlaw them any time soon.The United Nations charter on people's rights, to which Nigeria is a signatory, gives their pursuit for self determination legitimacy.From a nondescript organization in the 1990s to a well-structured movement, with a strict and efficient internal control mechanism; MASSOB has emerged stronger and more daring; it has become a belief system established in the hearts and minds of its members who are scattered across the country and beyond.With or without their leader, Chief Ralph Uwazuruike, MASSOB will go on. It has become an idea that cannot die as it is an unwavering conviction branded into the hearts of its adherents.Uwazuruike is the vision-bearer for this group and has had to defy threats against his life and family to pursue the dreams of the organization.In the face of multiple incarcerations, abuse, harassment and extra-judicial killing of his members, Uwazuruike has soldiered on. To an extent, Uwazurike has become a household name and a byword for the struggle for Igbo emancipation.Whichever way one may look at it, Uwazuruike is an emerging Igbo leader of great propensity. He is believed to have studied at the feet of the all-time Igbo leader, Dim Ikemba Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu. The former Biafran warlord is said to have tutored the MASSOB leader on the unjust realities of the continued existence of the Ndigbo in the entity called Nigeria. Little wonder it is often opined that Uwazuruike is today fighting through advocacy, the same battle Ojukwu fought with a gun.Before commencing the struggle to reclaim Biafra, Uwazuruike had been of the opinion that Igbo people should re-negotiate their stay in Nigeria, arguing that they were the whipping tribe in the country, having invested so much in the project called Nigeria, yet getting so little.More than a decade ago, when it became obvious to him that Nigeria was deliberately ill-structured by the colonial masters to subjugate the Igbo and other southern ethnic groups, Uwazuruike observed that succeeding governments had gone about the marginalisation of the Igbo with glee. He was, therefore, compelled to launch the struggle for the actualisation of an independent Igbo nation.Today, 51 years after independence and more than a decade after MASSOB declared the Nigerian situation as unjust; many Nigerians including serving governors, senators and other parliamentarians are now voicing their conviction that Nigeria should be discussed again.Considering the state of the nation and analyzing the socio-economic and political indices on ground, their observations are by far overdue.Dissatisfaction, disenchantment and socio-cultural incompatibility of the integrating and federating components of Nigeria have catalyzed the proliferation of ethnic pressure groups to push the interests and positions of the ethnic regions of the country.In the Northern part of Nigeria, there is the Boko Haram fundamentalist group which has declared a war against the Nigerian state until the nation is Islamized to the extent of banishing Western civilization. Theirs is a clear case of socio-religious in-affinity with the other parts of the country, yet they were amalgamated with the south in 1914.In the south west, there is the Oodua Peoples Congress (OPC), advocating and protecting the interest of the Yoruba tribe of the Southwest.The Southeast is the home front of the Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) whose members are agitating for an independent Igbo nation on the grounds of marginalization and subjugation of its people in Nigeria.In the Niger Delta, we find the cluster groups of agitators that have become widely known as the 'Niger Delta Militants'; who are consistently demanding a better deal from the Nigerian nation in the light of the fact that the oil wealth of the nation derives from the Niger Delta.The thriving of all these ethnic pressure groups in the service of their individual ethnic interests and their increasing popularity and relevance in the Nigerian system is an unmistakable indication of the collapse of all those public institutions and arms of government designed to serve, protect and pursue the interests of the federating components of Nigeria. And as long as there is neither the political will nor administrative cohesion to stabilize the federating regions of Nigeria, the country is merely tottering on the brink of collapse, according to analysts.As the agitating groups pile pressures on the government, it becomes obvious that there is also a proxy contest among the agitating regions of Nigeria, who want to obtain the best deal for their people before the bubble bursts at the centre.In the North, leaders of the region appear to have shown tacit support for the Boko Haram fundamentalist; calling for amnesty and negotiations between the group and the Federal Government for an agitation that is tantamount to a secession demand. In some cases, northern leaders even attempted to defer the trial of arrested members of the group.In the Southwest, governments patronise and collaborate with the OPC.In Lagos, the OPC remains in charge of security of some areas and are paid by agents of various governments. Here government is often willing to side with OPC while the group pushes through radical advocacy the interests of the people and governments of the Southwest.In the South'South, the Niger Delta militants were in independent clusters. As such, there was no unifying voice. Co-ordination was almost impossible as the assault of the gunmen nearly plunged the region into anarchy. The relentlessness of MEND, a militant group from the region, however, conferred on them a status of being the actual voice of the Niger Delta.Even during the amnesty programme, there were still pockets of militant activities in the region. It is the opinion of many that the gunmen of the region are merely waiting for their son, President Goodluck Jonathan, to serve out his tenure as president before they return to their trenches. It has been said that as long as oil remains in the Niger Delta, there must be militant activities in the region. Several of their political leaders, kings and former governors, have directly and indirectly patronized, supported and advanced the cause of the militants.However, it is only in the Igbo enclave of the Southeastern Nigeria that their own pressure group, MASSOB seems to be a weeping child.Recent events however point to the fact that the Igbo may after all, have begun a process of charting a new course for their future.This was evidenced recently when the leader of MASSOB, Chief Ralph Uwazuruike was honoured by Rotary International for his humanitarian activities in spite of the challenges and persecutions he faces daily in the struggle to actualize the Igbo dream.The occasion provided the opportunity for Igbo leaders from across the South-east and South'South Nigeria to re-dedicate themselves to the cause of the Igbo nation.Present and former governors of the region; serving and former Senators from the region; traditional rulers, political party leaders and other leaders of note were unanimous in urging a re-definition of the stake of the Igbo man in Nigeria.Commending the MASSOB leader for his peaceful approach to the struggle, the leaders assured that as long as MASSOB sustains its non-violent stance, leaders of the South-East may soon have to work out modalities to support the group in the greater interest of Ndigbo.With the growing consensus that Nigeria should be discussed and re-negotiated, it was time for the Igbo nation, like other region of Nigeria, to throw their weight behind the loudest voice from the region and easily the best coordinated pressure group in the country, in their quest to be heard.With over 15million fiercely loyal members across the nation, MASSOB boasts of a staggering numerical strength that could shake up any system, but have still continued to toe the path of peace even in the face of provocation and unwarranted assault.With every election in the region, there is hardly any governorship or Senatorial aspirant of note that does not pay homage to, and seek the blessing of the MASSOB leader in recognition of his enormous influence in the Igbo speaking states of the South East.The rising profile and popularity of MASSOB and its leader cannot be divorced from the fact that the group and its leadership from the outset have continued to venerate the mercurial Biafran war lord, Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu in all their activities - when he celebrates, they celebrate with him; when he mourns, they mourn as well. And recently when the ex-warlord left for medical treatment overseas, MASSOB publicly called for prayers for him. And these have continued to endear the group to the Igbo across the globe.As Igbo people continue to agitate for a better deal and a re-definition of their stake in Nigeria, Ralph Uwazuruike and MASSOB remain an indispensable factor in the struggle for Igbo emancipation.
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