MASSOB to Kanu: Return to Nigeria if you’re serious with fight for Biafra

The Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) has called on the leader of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, to return to Nigeria if he is indeed serious about the fight for Biafra.

Kanu, who has been away from the country for some years, has been championing the fight for Biafra mostly through his social media platforms, particularly Facebook, where he boasts of a huge fanbase.

But commenting on the development in an interview with Punch, the MASSOB’s National Director of Information, Sunday Okereafor, said Kanu cannot claim to be fighting for Biafra in a far away country from Nigeria.

The pro-Biafra group also warned Kanu against hurling insults at its leader, Ralph Uwazuruike, over issues concerning the struggle for Biafra.

According to him, it was unfortunate that Kanu would be accusing Uwazuruike of trying to disrupt the ongoing efforts aimed at achieving secession when it was the latter that brought him into the struggle for Biafra in the first place.

“MASSOB says on Biafra, we stand. Nnamdi Kanu can’t say that he is fighting for Biafra and he is staying in America, London, Canada, Australia. Every day, he is flying; he should come back home and pay the price,” he was quoted as saying by media outlet.

“MASSOB is telling Nnamdi Kanu to come down home and fight for the freedom, rather than hiding abroad. Nnamdi Azikiwe was in Nigeria as Governor General of Nigeria and Muammar Ghaddafi was there fighting for the freedom of his people, Jomo Kenyatta fought for the freedom of Kenyans from Kenya.

“Also, Thomas Jefferson of America stayed in America and fought for their own freedom. So, Nnamdi Kanu should come home; he should bring his own members home and fight, rather than castigating Uwazuruike.

“Odumegwu Ojukwu never castigated Michael Okpara and Uwazuruike never castigated Ojukwu. Kanu was an employee of MASSOB. Uwazuruike employed him. It is now that he wants to be the boss. Does Kanu know about the struggle? No.”

Okereafor went on to reiterate MASSOB’s commitment to continue championing for the actualisation of Biafra using non-violent approach.

He added: “We know that they want to hijack the struggle. Even now, they want to hijack it. But Uwazuruike remains the father. Kanu was an employee of MOSOB. How can an employee know more than the Managing Director?

“Uwazuruike is going the normal line in which he is supposed to go and get Biafra. We don’t carry arms; so, how can you expect us to carry arms. Kanu is a freedom fighter; how would you run away from the people he is fighting for?”