From JEFF AMECHI AGBODO, Onitsha and GEORGE ONYEJIUWA, Owerri

The Movement for Actualization of Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) and Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) have condemned the statement by former Chief of Naval Staff, Akin Aduwo that Nnamdi Kanu and other pro-Biafra agitators were still driving the struggle because they were ignorant of history or too small to feel the impact of the civil war.
The IPOB Media and Publicity Secretary Mr. Emma Powerful while reacting to the comment said that Biafra agitation was informed by a sense of history, not ignorance of it.
According to him, “IPOB is well aware that if not for the role major world powers played because of their misunderstanding of the essence of Biafra, we wouldn’t be where we are today. Some people due to ignorance of history or cowardice failed to acknowledge the fact that Biafra is over 5000 years old while Nigeria is only 100. The grandfather of Nnamdi Kanu was not born a Nigerian, he was born a Biafran.
“Asking IPOB to abandon the quest for Biafra is tantamount to asking us to forget the history of our ancestors. Even Buhari’s father was not born a Nigerian. We should refer to the description of Nigeria by Chief Obafemi Awolowo who rightly affirmed that it is a mere geographical expression and not a country.
Frederick Luggard, a Scottish white British man with his lover carved a piece of territory through a series of conquests and named those within, Nigeria. Do you think it is proper for Europeans to allow a black man from Africa to create and name a country for them?
“There is something people misunderstand about our quest for freedom, it is not borne out of malice or hatred for other ethnic groups but out of innate calling to be free.”
On his part, the leader of MASSOB Mr. Uchenna Madu said the struggle for Biafra will continue irrespective of what others feel about it. His words: “As every revolutionary struggle has its own methodology, the current Biafran struggle for actualization and restoration will continue to unfold.
“The involvement of Niger-Delta Avengers and other Niger Delta freedom fighters in Biafra struggle will continue to hunt Yoruba and Hausa Fulani people. Nigeria days of existence are numbered as the current political, economical, religious and social war going on in Nigeria speaks high volume of Nigeria’ s imminent collapse.
“The Naval officer is among the hypocrites who go around deceiving Buhari with the assurance of military might against the people of Biafra. Nobody can crush Biafra, it is our existence, culture, future, until all Biafrans all over the world are crushed, then Biafra will die. MASSOB warns the man to shut up his mouth against Biafra.”
Also speaking in the same vein, the National Coordinator of the Njemigbo Movement, a pro- Biafra group, Comrade Pascal Egoigbo described the statement credited to Admiral Aduwo as not only unfortunate but an insult to Ndigbo, saying, it clearly shows that the elder statesman is living in the past.
He said: “It is an insult for the former Naval Chief to state that those who are agitating for the state of Biafra are ignorant of the history of Nigeria or the war because he was one of the co- conspirators against Ndigbo. But he should be rest assured that the situation of 1967 is not the same today as the people are now wiser.”
He added that “the Yoruba people had formed the OPC to fight for the interest of their people and have been campaigning for Oduduwa Republic .Is it because a Yoruba man is now the Vice President of the country that they think that all is well?”

Aduwo