By Chidi Nkwopara
Protagonist of Biafra Independence Movement, BIM, Chief Ralph Uwazuruike, has assured South South leaders that “no zone shall be subservient to another”, as calls for independence keeps rising in Nigeria.
Uwazuruike, who stated this when he played host to a delegation of South South people, led by Alhaji Mujaheed Asari Dokubo, also opined that “if for any reason, two nations want to merge as one entity, such nations must agree via a plebiscite”.
His words: “As we collectively march towards our independence, every tribe must be respected, as no one will be subservient to another. If we must work together, it must be by agreement and consensus where everybody must respect the other.
“Between 1967-1970, the entire Eastern Region was one region, that is Biafra. Now, things have changed. We have to respect each other. The component parts of each other and whoever that is talking must know what he’s talking.”
He advised “those who want to engineer bad blood and feelings to destroy our struggle to desist”, stressing that the Ijaw, Ibibio, Anang, Edo and the entire South South geopolitical zone must be respected”.
Describing Dokubo as “a fearless and courageous warrior”, Uwazuruike also explained that they are now together to finish what they started.
In his own reactions, the leader of Biafra National Council, BNC, Alhaji Dokubo, described himself as an Ijaw and Igbo man, even as he claimed that his ancestors were of Igbo extraction.
His words: “I do not believe in Niger Delta Republic but Biafra. Ndigbo, Ijaw, Efik, Ibibio and Anang people cannot win it alone. It will be through our collective strength that our enemies will be crushed. Let us not be distracted by anybody. Anybody who does not want us to come together is not in the Biafra struggle. Anybody who insults Biafrans, insults part of the Biafran struggle.
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“We are moving on to freedom and there is nothing that is going to stop us. It is very close. We shall hold hands, they will beg us to be free.
“They brought Boko Haram. They brought their herdsmen, RUGA and Water Resource Bill. They manufacture all the evils in this world, but they are not going to stop us from this great mass liberation. We are not going to make the mistakes our fathers made.
“We have been killed in millions, detained, brutalized for Biafra in the last 21 years of our New Biafra struggle. This is the last of the struggle. I want every one of us to know, let us not begin to count those things that divide us. Let us look at the things that unite us. It is not everybody that will be involved in this fight and in this struggle.
“They told us Goodluck was not good and they removed Goodluck. Are they better than us? My brothers and sisters, to achieve Biafra, we need our collective strength. You are stronger than me. You are underestimating your power. We need the collectivity strength of any one of us here and that is when enemy will be afraid of us.
“I believe on the Biafra declared on the 30th of May 1967, that’s the Biafra I know and that Biafra includes Efik, Ijaw, Igbo, Oron, Ibibio, Anang, Ogoni, etc. If others want to join us, they are free to do so. As every region will control their resources,” Asari said.
