By Henry Umahi [email protected]
How would you describe Chief Ralph Uwazuruike, founder of the Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB)? Anyhow, the semantics of description will not diminish him. At the time it was a taboo to talk about the secessionist project called Biafra, he made it a song worth singing. Nevertheless, he had his fingers burnt, spending long periods in detention but he was not deterred. As far as he is concerned, there is no alternative to Biafra, even as he preaches non-violence.
In this exclusive chat in his residence in Owerri, the capital of Imo State, Uwazuruike, who was conferred with the admirable title of Ijele Ndigbo (the big masquerade of the Igbo), offered perspectives into the struggle he started 17 years ago. He spoke fearlessly and courageously as ever.
Uwazuruike opined that those clamouring for restructuring are cowards who do not have the balls to ask for total freedom, which is actually what they desire. In a manner of speaking, he maintained that Ndigbo will not worship the Nigerian god of iniquity.
You started the Biafra struggle again 17 years ago. How has it been?
It has been tremendous by things we feel today because the candle I relit is burning harder now than before. You know, before 1999, Biafra was moribund; nobody was talking about Biafra. For so many years, it was a taboo to mention the word Biafra in Nigeria. But I restarted it. Everybody thought I would die after a few weeks or months, but today, I am still alive and the struggle is still alive, even waxing stronger than ever. I am happy.
What is your take on the proliferation of pro-Biafran groups in the country?
For sure, it is to my glory. I am the happier for it. Some people think that by having other elements in the struggle, Uwazuruike will feel otherwise. But I am happy because without these groups, the struggle for Biafra will not be as strong as it is today. In every struggle, there must be splinter groups. It has happened in India and even in South Africa. You have so many groups but you have the mainstream. Today, in the struggle for Biafra, MASSOB, BIM are in the forefront. Other splinter groups could be there. I encourage more to come up because the more the merrier. If you leave it for Uwazuruike alone, it cannot work. Supposing that many other people did not join me and it was Uwazuruike alone shouting Biafra in 1999, it would have died off. People joined and as people join, there will be dissention. There will be many people who will not like your method; they will like to be on their own. The mentality of an Igbo man is that he wants to stay on his own and be his own master. We must realise that. So, the more groups we have, I feel very happy that they are coming up. Without all these groups, who will be talking about Biafra now?
But what I don’t like actually is people leaving the main issue to pursue shadow. Let us all come together and fight against one common enemy. Let us come together and fight for the issue, which is Biafra and stop castigating the founder, the initiator, the originator. It is not the issue of character assassination or who does right or what. This is not the time to judge. It is later when we achieve our purpose or ambition. Then we sit back. Political parties will be formed and the masses will decide who to choose if there is election. It is not proper in the midst of the struggle, you start castigating the originator, the person who was before you because you want to be known, seen or heard. I didn’t do that against Chukwuemeka Ojukwu.
Ojukwu was there when I began. He started Biafra. At a stage, he started supporting me. I worked under him for close to 10 years before I formed MASSOB and after MASSOB, I worked with him for close to 10 years again before he died. I never for one day insulted him. So, I’m encouraging the new factions to team up and fight for the struggle; fight for the emancipation of the Igbo, fight for the realisation of Biafra and stop castigating anybody, including Uwazuruike or any other person.
You founded MASSOB but left unceremoniously, so to say. What really happened?
No, no, no; I didn’t leave. That is what I am trying to avoid when you leave the main issue to chase shadow. I know majority of these people. I remember and I know when each one of them joined the struggle because I singlehandedly founded it. So, when politicians came in through them to flout what I was doing, I had to play the smart game. I have not left. What we did a few days ago was under MASSOB-BIM. I wanted to save the image of the struggle, to save Biafra. What they wanted to do was to use these boys to destroy the struggle. If I wasn’t clever enough, I would have engaged them and they would have achieved their ambition. But when I tried to pull out a little; they thought they had won. But, today, we are into it again. So, it is not about leaving MASSOB. I can never leave MASSOB. Nobody knew why I formed MASSOB. So, no one can decode and say whether Uwazuruike has achieved it or not because I was not elected. There was no manifesto I gave. So, I’m still in the struggle – MASSOB BIM.
We should have many. You can have many branches of MASSOB; it doesn’t matter. There is IPOB; let there be 20 IPOBs; it doesn’t matter when all of us are talking about the realisation of Biafra. It is only a selfish person, who has ulterior motive that would want his name to be greater than the word, Biafra. What matters for every Biafra crusader is the realisation of Biafra, not to play to the gallery or say things you cannot do. You claim that you have 300 ship load of military hardware on the sea to conquer Nigeria when it is not true. People will know it is not true. Say the truth and do what will enhance the realisation of the struggle. That’s what I’m fighting for.
What is your relationship with Nnamdi Kanu and how would you react to his continued detention?
I started MASSOB in 1999. In 2009, that is 10 years after starting MASSOB, I went to London. It was in London that I discovered him because I went to open Radio Biafra in London. So, when I opened Radio Biafra in London, I had to look for somebody to manage it. There were four people I appointed managers of Radio Biafra then and he was one. There was Tagbo, who had a Master’s degree. There was Dr. Egemba. There was Nwada Amarachi. They were four of them. Even when I appointed him, the other three dissented. They said no, saying that he was a small boy. They said that he was academically inferior to them and that they wouldn’t work under him. I told them that they must work under him because he was the person I had in mind before travelling to London. I told them that what was paramount was the achievement of Biafra.
I finished the business of Radio Biafra with an IT company and went to South Africa. Actually, it was in South Africa I wanted to open the station but they convinced me to do it in London. Before 2009, I had opened Voice of Biafra International in Washington DC in 2000. As a matter of fact, Ojukwu went for the commissioning of that radio and the Biafra House in Washington DC in 2000/01. So, we were using it for a few years, but the cost implication was high. That was why I was looking for other places that could be cheaper. That was why I went to London.
So, I made Kanu the director, well above people greater than he in education. But not up to two months after I left London, he registered the station with his own name in London. That was when trouble started brewing. I told him it was public property and he was not the one financing it. It was being financed by MASSOB and he had not put in one naira. I asked him why he should register the organisation in his personal name. That was the issue. He started castigating me because the radio was there. He was using it to broadcast and castigate me, but I didn’t mind. It doesn’t mean anything.
So, talking about my relationship with Kanu; he was my boy. I have trained so many of them. Anybody that is talking about Biafra today was trained by Uwazuruike directly or indirectly. Either that I trained him directly or he was trained by someone I trained. I know all of them, I know when they joined. I can say he joined in 2009, 10 years after I had founded MASSOB and I went to London and discovered him among others. He was my boy and he is still my boy. We have done our 17th year anniversary; let him do his own anniversary. He can’t say IPOB started before 1999. He can’t say he started IPOB on his own. The true story is that Uwazuruike came to London and appointed him director of Radio Biafra, London.
About his detention, the government of Nigeria has no business detaining him. They should release him. I have said it several times. There is freedom of expression. What he has done is to express himself, regarding his desires. He wants Biafra, as against those who want Nigeria. It is the same thing I’m saying. It’s the same thing that the Boko Haram people are saying; they want an Islamic nation. Government should look into what people are saying or what people want, not to come up with the nonsense and useless ideology of one Nigeria. It is useless because it is not everybody that buys that idea. You cannot preach one Nigeria to me because I don’t believe in it. If you have the right to preach one Nigeria, Uwazuruike has the right to preach Biafra. You can’t say I should not talk about Biafra because you believe in Nigeria. As you believe in Nigeria, it is the same way Uwazurike believes in Biafra and other people believe in other things.
You called for referendum. Do you know the process of conducting a referendum?
Yes. Is it a new thing? It has been done in so many places. Recently, it was done in Britain and Scotland. It was also done recently with regard to Britain’s membership of the EU. Do we go to the university again to learn how a referendum is conducted? The UN should do all these things. So many people have been killed as regards the issue of Biafra and Nigeria between 1967 and 1970 and between 1999 and 2006. If this thing had happened in Europe or America, they would have done it. It is because of their selfish interest in Nigeria; they want to use oil to perpetuate their evil in this place. Otherwise, they would have done it. So, if they know how they have been conducting referendum in other places, let them use it to conduct it in Nigeria and Biafra.
What is the next line of action if they refuse to conduct referendum in Nigeria?
The struggle continues. The struggle will continue against their own interest vis-a-vis our own interest. You continue to say you want one Nigeria and we continue to say we want Biafra. But what I don’t like is people speaking more than they can achieve; engaging the youths wrongfully. If you boast that you have ammunition or you have everything to conquer Nigeria, if the youths come out, soldiers will start shooting at them, thinking that they are armed. Make people queue into the struggle of non-violence, which I did. It was because of non-violence that I travelled to India to understudy Mahatma Ghandi. I spent 10 years in India. There is nothing better in this life than non-violence because even if you use violence, at the end of the day, you will come to a round table to discuss or dialogue. That is what I advise our people or anybody in the struggle to queue into the doctrine of non-violence. This thing might not be accomplished during our own time, but let our children know that during their fathers’ time, they never believed, they never wanted and they never agreed to be under anybody in Nigeria. Let it be on record that we wanted to be on our own, as an independent people than working in Nigeria as slaves. Let them understand that and that is what I continue to do.
No matter what anybody says today, I have achieved what I wanted and I’m still fighting to achieve more. Today, Biafra is talked about all over the world, which nobody had done. I have removed that veil. I have removed fear. I have removed that window ceiling. I have gone further to bring the South East and South South together, to work as one by supporting Goodluck Jonathan. I have done all these things for our people. Hitherto, there was frosty relationship between the South East and South South, but I used the emergence of Jonathan to close the gap. Today, even the young people in South South are clamouring for Biafra. Was it done before? It was because of me. People were criticising me when I was supporting Jonathan. They didn’t know why I was supporting Jonathan. I knew that there was mistrust built in by our leaders in the past and I closed it up. Today, we are working together.
What is the possibility of achieving Biafra without war, as it happened in South Sudan and Eritrea?
Now, listen. As I told you, I went to India to understudy Mahatma Ghandi and it is that model that I’m following. Mahatma Ghandi achieved independence for India through non-violence; that’s what I’m doing. The Sudanese fought war and all that, but I don’t think that they achieved it at the battlefield. They still came back and resolved to divide. The problem that we are having in Nigeria is caused by the international community, particularly the USA and Britain. If the World Cup is coming up, you see all manner of countries coming to play, starting from the qualifying stages. When did you create them? Did you seek the knowledge or attention of the whole world before you conferred independence on them? Why is the case of Biafra an exception? Some of these countries are not up to one million people in population. In the case of Biafra, they want a bigger environment to do business or people they will trust more to protect their interest. That is why they close their eyes to the sufferings of other people. They should divide Nigeria, as they have done in Yugoslavia and Soviet Union.
The six geo-political zones should stay on their own. That is what I am saying. And that is the opinion of MASSOB-BIM. There could be bilateral relationship among them. Nothing forbids that. That is why we still have EU today in spite of the fact that the member-countries maintain their sovereignty. Nigeria can still do the same thing. The six geo-political zones should be independent entities. Any of them that wants to be part of Biafra through referendum or plebiscite will be wecome. I heard that some people in the South South are of the opinion that if they are part of Biafra, they will be marginalised. Let them stay on their own, as Niger Delta Republic or whatever they like to call themselves. We don’t care about their oil; we have our own oil. We can even do without oil. Before oil was discovered in Nigeria, Nigeria was even doing better than this time. So, my solution to the Nigerian problem is for the country to be divived into six and let the zones manage themselves and propagate their own beliefs, culture and and identity. This will address the issue of religious fanaticism in the North. They bring cattle to graze in the South because of one Nigeria. But if Biafra is a republic, before you come to our land to do cattle grazing, you will seek our consent. But under one republic, a Fulani man will come to Igbo land and start killing people and if the people fight back, they will start killing the Igbo in the North and destroying their property. These are things I want people to look into and solve.
Some people are of the view that Igbo do not need a separate country but to organise themselves in Nigeria. How do you react to that?
They are myopic and self-centred. I know those who are saying it. They are the corrupt politicians in Abuja. They are saying it because of their selfish interest. How many Igbo have been killed in the North? Have they spoken out? As MASSOB leader, I sent 100 luxury buses to the North when Boko Haram started killing people. Did any Igbo man send any vehicle? The southerners and Igbo businessmen we were hiring the buses from were collecting money from us in advance and exorbitantly too. We spent over N30 million to do that. We were paying in advance to convey their own people home. These businessmen- politicians are talking nonsense because they have houses in Abuja and they want platform to politick. They want to be senators, ministers and other things.
Life comes first in everything. Your people are being killed and you are not saying anything. Let them proffer solution to the killing of Igbo in Nigeria. If they proffer solution to the killing of Ndigbo and the destruction of their property in Nigeria, maybe I will agree with them.
Some people say that it was the Biafra struggle that set Ndigbo back, arguing that before the civil war the Igbo were controlling Nigeria. What’s your take on this?
What people fail to understand is that change is permanent. The Hausa/Fulani insisting on one Nigeria today did not support the Nigeria project in the 1950s. When Chief Anthony Enahoro moved the independence motion in the parliament, they walked away. They said that they did not believe in one Nigeria; they wanted to stay separately. They were persuaded by the British to come back. Even after the pogrom of 1966, Yakubu Gowon said that there was no basis for one Nigeria. Some people started begging him. Some people who wanted one Nigeria begged the North to come back to one Nigeria. Subsequently, oil was discovered in commercial quantity and the northern military men started creating states out of every nook and cranny of the North. They saw that nothing could sustain those states, hence they held on to one Nigeria. The North, which said it didn’t want one Nigeria, is today insisting on one Nigeria because of oil. If the oil was in the North, no northerner would talk of one Nigeria; they would have divided Nigeria since and be on their own. So, the doctrine of one Nigeria is of no consequence to any intelligent or patriotic person in Nigeria.
Can restructuring help Nigeria in any way?
The people clamouring for restructuring are talking out of cowardice. It is just like saying that you want to abstain from eating your wife’s food but you want to chew the food for the dog. You don’t want freedom, you want restructuring. What is the difference between independence and restructuring? You want pre-1960 ideology or method where the North, East and West remained in quasi independent position. Call it confederation because you don’t want to come out and say you want independence. If you want to stay in Nigeria as a Yoruba or Niger Delta man, you should allow Nigeria to govern you. Why are you crying for restructuring? There are two things – either you are in or out. If you want one Nigeria, let one Nigeria govern you. What do you want to restructure? If you want independence, you go all out for it. You don’t want independence but you want half-independence because restructuring is half-independence. Some people want full independence.
How do you reconcile that?
Let them give us Biafra and the rest can remain in Nigeria and do their restructuring. But I tell you, an average Yoruba man wants his freedom. An average Middle Belt man wants his freedom. These elements are the politicians at the corridors of power who have the means of communication. They are the owners of television stations and newspapers. They want Nigeria for their businesses and political positions. They talk for the masses. Conduct a referendum and let the people decide. You will be so shocked that 99 per cent of Nigerians want to stay on their own.
Recently, Buhari asked Igbo youth corps members to denounce Biafra. How do you take that?
Things like that make me happy. At least, Biafra is still giving Buhari sleepless nights. Before 1999, nobody was talking about Biafra. But, today, everybody is talking about Biafra after so many years they said that they conquered Biafra and Biafra was dead. For Buhari to be talking about Biafra means that Biafra is very much alive and Biafra is keeping him awake at night. That makes me happy and I feel satisfied that I have reignited that light and it is burning.
The Igbo youth he was telling not to support Biafra, how many of their elders did he put in his cabinet? He appointed only his family members and kinsmen from Daura into important positions. It’s just that the youths did not ask him questions. They should have asked him how many Igbo people are in his kitchen cabinet. How many Igbo men are among his service chiefs? They are deceiving themselves. It’s just like the war against corruption he is talking about. This is what we call bubuyaya – the more you look, the less you see. That’s what they are doing. When he was head of state, they were talking about 53 mystery suitcases. If you want to say that you are a true patriot and you want to fight corruption, start from yourself. If I were him, that’s what I’ll do. Then he will go back to Gowon.
Imagine what they are doing to Jonathan and his wife. Nigerians are very ungrateful to Jonathan and his wife. Jonathan and his wife are the source of the unity of Nigeria today. Look at how they are paying them back. They should start with their wives. Buhari should start with his wife when he was head of state. Gowon’s wife should be probed. Obasanjo’s wife should be probed. Babangida’s wife should be probed. Abdusalami’s wife should be probed. Yar’Adua’s wife should be probed. If you oversee Nigeria’s interests and resources, you are bound to give account to them, even if the people didn’t vote for you, as a junta. So, Buhari should start with himself.
You are flying anti-corruption kite against the opposition. The members of the opposition who joined you are innocent; they are saints because they brought money to sponsor your election. That’s why you don’t want to probe them. You are probing only those who worked against you in the election. Who are you kidding? That’s why I said that Nigeria should not be a nation because it is built on iniquity. While you were preaching that the blood of monkeys and baboons will flow, Jonathan said that his ambition was not worth the life of anyone. Despite all the rigging in the North, he kept quiet and handed over to you. Now you are insulting his wife, leaving your own wife. In law, equals must be treated equally. Anti-corruption war is good, but you should start with yourself. That way you build people’s confidence in what you are doing. What they are doing is bubuyaya – the more you look, the less you see.
How would you describe the state of the nation now?
I am happy that nothing is working. That’s what I am praying for and that was why I started MASSOB. If everything is working in Nigeria, I would have been defeated. People will tell me to go and sit down, that Nigeria is El-dorado. That nothing is working in Nigeria today justifies my intention, justifies my opinion, justifies my agenda and justifies my struggle. How can things work in a place where the fortune of the entire nation is being cornered by a minute group of individuals? Did Buhari not appoint his kinsmen into his kitchen cabinet and other important positions in Nigera? Is that how to do it? Yet, he was telling Igbo youths to denounce Biafra.
You have to be factual. You have to rememember. You have to convince people factually, not when you say one thing, you do another. Buhari said during his campaign that one naira would be equal to one dollar. Is it what it is today? He wanted power and he has been given power, but he doesn’t know what to do with it because he was not prepared. He doesn’t know anything. He cannot do it. But he saw somebody who was doing it, but simply because he was from the South, he didn’t want him to continue. Now that he is there, he cannot do anything. If people talk, he detains them and disregards the court. He is still obsessed with draconian laws. Is that how to do it? I am the happier with what is happening in Nigeria today because it is what Nigerians deserve. The docile populace, who don’t know anything, who are being brainwashed by the selfishness of the politicians, needed a change. Change can be positive or negative. They have the change they want.
Now, people are even selling their children just to eat. People will carry their children to where they sell food stuff, drop the children there and carry a small bag of garri. They are trading by barter with their own blood. That is the government they want and I am happy for it because if things like these do not happen, people will not realise what I am talking about. And the worst is yet to come.
There is the assertion that most of the agitators for Biafra are young men and women who did not witness the devastating effect of the civil war, hence they are ready to go to the trenches. What is your reaction to this?
This is because there is no employment for them. They didn’t experience the war but where did you keep them? Did you find employment for them? If someone had gone through nursery, primary, secondary and university education, has the person not tried? Does the person not deserve recognition and job? Instead he will be roaming the street for years on end. His parents that trained him will die without enjoying the fruit of their labour. What are you going to profess to such a person? If I tell him that if we have our own country, he will be given a job, he will follow me. Offer them jobs and tell them not to join Uwazuruike. Let Buhari find jobs for the youth corps members he told not to support Biafra. After the youth service programme, they will remain jobless and they will come to join Uwazurike because in Biafra they have hope; in Nigeria they don’t have hope. The Igbo youths are not represented in your government because their parents are relegated to the background; yet you want them to join you. It’s laughable.
What happened to the Biafra international passport project?
I will not answer that question because it is an internal matter. We are still working on it. When you are in a struggle, you do everything humanly possible for you to achieve what you want. In my own stead, I’m opposed to violence. So, whatever we do in MASSOB to achieve our sovereignty through non-violence, we do it. We are not apologising to anybody.
Finally, what would be your advice to Nigerians at this point in time?
Nigeria should be divided without further delay. Postponing it is postponing the evil day. There is no way Nigeria can survive. Forget about what Buhari is doing. Officially, he is now in his late 70s. We are talking about children yet unborn. We are talking about children in maternity homes, children who were born yesterday. Buhari should think of the unborn children. Nigeria should not be a place where they should be because there is nothing like Nigeria. Nigeria is something somebody brought together through his personal imagination. It is a creation of Lord Lugard or whatever he answers. There was no agreement to being together as a country. Nobody voted for Nigeria in the first place, so it shouldn’t have come into existence at all. And it is not working. If it is working, nobody will talk about going their separate ways.
Must you continue to carry a dead child on your laps?
Nigeria is a dead child that cannot walk. Think about what naira was to a dollar 20 or 30 years ago and compare the exchange rate today. Gowon, Buhari and the rest of them came into positions of authority in their early or mid 20s. Today, look at the state of a Nigerian child. Nigerian graduates are roaming the streets for lack of employment opportunities. Some people who were about 10 years old when Buhari was head of state are still jobless today while he emerged as president at the age of 70-something years.
The same corrupt people are recycling themselves in office. They want to live their own lives and the lives of the future generation and we say no to it. We don’t want a situation where Obsanjo will rule as head of state and come back as president and his children will never be president. Ditto Buhari. How do you look at it? If it works for Yoruba and Hausa/Fulani, it doesn’t work in Igbo land. Everybody prays that his children will be greater than him. That is the ideology in Igbo land. So, if they want to practise such, they should do it on their own. We want out. Let them give us Biafra where we shall live according to our own norms, tradition and culture.