NEWS LAND : Igbo agitating for Biafra because of marginalisation – MASSOB

 

Chukwudi Akasike

THE Movement for the Actualisation of a Sovereign State of Biafra has said its insistence on Biafra is due to the marginalisation of the Igbo in the affairs of the nation.

According to MASSOB, the Federal Government has no investment in the South-East, save prisons, police stations and army commands.

The National Director of Information of the movement, Mr Sunday Okereafor, added that while the Igbo had shown interest in Nigeria through their investments in the North and other parts of zones, all they got in return was marginalisation.

Okereafor, who spoke in a telephone interview with our correspondent on Sunday, said, “The Igbo people welcome other ethnic groups in Nigeria, and that explains why we go to the North and establish there. We have houses and businesses there.

“It is like that in the West and the Middle-Belt. It shows that the Igbo are the people who want Nigeria. Other ethnic groups are not investing in Igboland; they don’t have houses in the South-East. In Kano State, the Igbo have houses there.

“Herbert Macaulay and Nnamdi Azikiwe fought for independence; so, why would Igbo fight Yoruba? No, we love Yoruba because they are our brothers. But the Nigerian Government does not want the Igbo again.

“The only investments you see in eastern Nigeria are prisons, police stations and army commands. We, the Igbo, are being marginalised. We, as Igbo, want Nigeria, but they say no. That is why we are saying we are tired and we say it is Biafra or nothing.

“At 60, an individual should be looking forward to retirement, but at 60, Nigeria is still a minor in the comity of nations, in terms of development. It will not take Biafra more than 10 years to develop. I am saying this because we have everything that can propel our speedy development.”

The MASSOB spokesman also decried the killing of Igbo in the Oyigbo Local Government Area of Rivers State by soldiers searching for members of the Indigenous People of Biafra.

“It is wrong to tag an innocent person IPOB and kill him. Is IPOB written on anybody’s face?” he queried.