By Toye Olori
LAGOS, May 26 2000 (IPS)

A group of Igbo youth, led by Ralph Uwazurike, a 41-year-old lawyer, have embarked on a programme aimed at resurrecting the defunct “Biafra Republic” set up by the Igbo ethnic group in 1967 in a bid to secede from Nigeria.

The Igbo ethnic group, in the east, is one of the major ethnic groups in Nigeria. Nigeria has over 250 ethnic groups.

What began as a joke when some members of the group, “Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB)”, stormed media houses here to announce the group late 1999, has become a major political issue in Nigeria.

Leaders of the botched 1967 secession bid surrendered in January 1970 after being defeated by the Federal Government in a protracted 30-month civil war in which over one million people are reported to have died.

The threat by the MASSOB, led by Ralph Uwazurike, a 41-year-old lawyer, to actualise its dream, became a reality this week with the launching of the “New Biafra” and the hoisting of its flag this week in Aba, the commercial centre of the eastern state of Abia.

The movement, perceived by most Nigerians as a gathering of idle youths wanting recognition, took the government by surprise with the early morning ceremony attended mostly by youths numbering about 10,000 and wearing MASSOB T-shirts. They had originally announced May 27 as the date for the launch.

The action, which observers believe could negatively affect the one-year-old democracy in Nigeria, resulted in the death of two youth when the group reportedly tried to prevent armed policemen from entering the venue of the ceremony to stop the launching.

Before disappearing from the venue, Uwazurike had explained that the idea behind the “New Biafra” which he described as the “fourth kingdom of God on Earth” was borne out of “unprovoked and organised killing of our people in Nigeria”

“Thirty three years ago there arose the need to save our people from total annihilation, but that attempt did not materialise, rather, we lost over one million of our people in the process. Today, the Igbos are faced with a similar situation and the unprovoked and organised killing of our people in Nigeria have remained unabated,”

He said the new Biafran Republic has come to stay especially with the introduction of the Islamic legal system in the northern states, a situation, which he said, “provoked the Kaduna crisis leading to the killing of 5,000 Igbos in the city”.

The movement, he said, had packaged about 25 stages for the actualisation of the sovereignty of the New Biafra through non- violence and non-exodus. These include unfolding the map of the Republic, its currency, national anthem and flag.

However, many Igbo groups nationwide have condemned the action.

Ohaneze Ndigbo, the apex body of Pan-Igbo groups, through its Secretary-General, Professor Ben Nwabueze, said: “Biafra, as a secessionist venture died in January 1970 (end of the Nigerian civil war) and remains dead”.

He dissociated the group from the activities of the movement saying the body does not enjoy the groups’ support.

They have condemned the groups activities saying they are inconsistent with the people’s principle of peace and unity and warned against secession at this point in time in Nigeria.

“Our position is that the question of secession at this point in time in Nigeria is both careless in outlook and anti-Igbo in character,” the organisations said in a statement.

Chike Udenze, Deputy State Chairperson of the Peoples Democratic Party in the eastern state of Anambra, also warned leaders of the movement against launching the re-birth of the defunct Biafra Republic, saying Uwazurike had no mandate to speak for the Igbos.

He stated: “Inspite of the problems of Nigeria and the marginalisation of the Igbos, we cannot trivialise our destiny by allowing unguarded statements from a few opportunists in our midst to play on our sentiments”

A resolution after a meeting by the governors of the five South- Eastern states which make up the core Igbos, have also dissociated the governments and people of the zone from MASSOB.

In a communique, the governors reaffirmed their resolve in one indivisible Nigeria and urged Nigerians to ignore MASSOB’s rebellion.

Odumegwu Ojukwu, who led the secession-bid in 1967, has also described threats by MASSOB to declare a state of Biafra on May 27, as “infantile drama and child play”

After a closed-door meeting with President Obasanjo in Abuja this week, Ojukwu said the present situation does not call for a “New Biafra” in the country as there was glimmer of hope for the Igbos under the present political dispensation.

“MASSOB activities tend to debase the Biafra spirit. The original Biafra which I had the honour and privilege to lead and which even up till today, I still, to a large extent symbolise, was a very serious matter. All these efforts and the move being made around it tend to debase rather than exalt the concept,” Ojukwu said.

Nigeria’s law on treasonable felony stipulates a life imprisonment for offenders and Uwazurike who was earlier this year arrested but freed may face treason charges for declaring a Republic by hoisting the new Biafran flag.

He however, said: “No amount of threat, intimidation or divide and rule tactics can change our resolve,” adding: “Although some Igbos have their reservations over the actualisation of the ‘New Biafra’, the cause for which over one million Igbos died would not be in vain”.

He noted that none of the dissenting voices had provided any guarantee to the safety of life and property of Igbo people in the country.

Uwazurike argued that his movement is not a violent movement and called on the Nigerian government to open up negotiation with MASSOB without any further delay for the realisation of the sovereignty of the ‘New Biafra State’.

“Independence is different from overthrowing of government. Independence goes with negotiation, We are negotiating Biafra’s independence.

“Our declaration of Biafra state is just the starting point. It is the beginning of active agitation. It does not mean that we are going to have Biafran army on that day or our immigration or foreign embassies or police force. But by May 27, we would have had a nucleus of a nation, we would have had our own flag.”

He argued that the talk about insurrection or secession is tantamount to crying wolf where none existed.

“The former Biafra has gone. It was a violent Biafra. It was defeated in a war. And today the former Biafra is in oblivion. But ours is a new Biafra that people can identify and negotiate with,” Uwazurike said.

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