For opening his mouth wide to support and even say that he may join the nefarious bombing activities of the dreaded Boko Haram sect in the Northern part of Nigeria that have pummeled many innocent citizens of this country to the soil, there is no apology to say that Ralph Uwazuruike, the now myopic leader of the once revered Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB), is enemy within the Biafran hemisphere of Nigeria. After discussing his unguided statement, my colleagues said that it is clowns like Uwazuruike that have reduced Ndi’Igbo to the level of ridicule we all now have to endure within this country called Nigeria. It is very unfortunate that the young man is going senile before his time. When you think someone is discussing seriously, suddenly he slides into total buffoonery. May God save us from this enemy within!
The group that Uwazuruike said that he may join its activities is the group that has kept Nigerians sleepless today? The recent past incidents allegedly carried out by this Boko Haram is the simultaneous bomb and gun attacks on a police station and a bank, killing seven people that included five policemen. This attack was coming barely close to a week after the sect bombed the police headquarters of Nigeria in Abuja, killing persons. While Uwazuruike, as lawyer, went through Western Education, he is not shamefaced to cite Boko Haram, which means “Western education is sin”, launched in 2009, as his role model in the struggle for actualization. He forgot that while MASSOB pushed for the Republic of Biafra by non-violent method, the Boko Haram pushed for the creation of an Islamic state through shootings and bombings of churches, police stations, community leaders, prisons and persons etc etc. Hogwash!
The Federal Government must do something about Bokom Haram and those supporting the group before the country ends in rubbles. An ex-governor of Borno State should be queried by the State Security Service (SSS) to see if the truth will emerge about the sponsors of this cult called Boko Haram. The Federal Government should be serious about this issue because Nigeria and Nigerians are going down on a daily basis. Boko Haram, as we have learnt, came into existence as a vigilante group; while it watched the neighbourhood, it tremendously supported the political activities of the former governor of Borno State. While the group kept its promises of supporting the persona, he rather threw the group into the dust, and it translated into a terrorist group.
Ndiigbo, if Uwazuruike was decent in his own struggle and believed in the power in non-violence, how could he have supported this group that has killed innocent Nigerians and destroyed property worth millions of naira, when he was supposed to be crying as Nigerians are grieving? If Uwazuruike had lost a relative in the many killings by Boko Haram, he would have perhaps known the pains this group has unreasonably inflicted on Nigerians. Boko Haram has now thrown everybody into fear and confusion. This is a group Uwazuruike wants to follow its series of deadly bomb blasts.
Not like the many-not-checked security challenges in Nigeria, Ndiigbo have to call Uwazuruike to order. Even though that the federal government had played nonsensical roles through the security agencies in containing Boko Haram, Ndiigbo should won Uwazuruike not to stay in ala-Igbo and say that he wants to join the sect activities. Ndiigbo should not play the opposition Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) on Uwazuruike, when ACN said: ”Because of this dangerous mix, this monster cannot be subdued by force…In any case, Nigeria currently lacks the capacity to use force to crush the Boko Haram sect. How many car parks, hotels or eateries and drinking joints can the police mann? It is apparent that a sect that has claimed responsibility for bombings at military barracks as well as the headquarters of the police cannot be intimidated by six APCs, which the police said they have moved to Borno (to fight the sect).” The party spokesman, Lai Muhammed, said this in a statement recently. But, did the same Nigerian forces not bomb Odi, (Zakibiam), and followed-up the militants in the South-East and South-South? It seems that there are two laws in Nigeria? One for the North, and the other for the South.
Vice President Namadi Sambo, who said it will adopt the Caine and Abel method in dealing with the menace of Boko Haram, during a recent security meeting chaired by him in Abuja, should mirror same method on Uwazuruike, but not on MASSOB members who are non-violent. The federal government should first understand and know the membership strength of the Boko Haram and structure, mode of operation and source of funding, before giving Nigerians hope it may not realize. The government should arm itself with enough information and act upon them immediately. Persons like Uwazuruike, not MASSOB, with similar ideologies, will then know their fate, except they accept amnesty. No one is big enough to carry arms like Uwazuruike has suggested, due to the refusal of Nigerian leaders to accept his struggle with MASSOB. It is only a fool that questions, why Nigerians reactions are worse than the bombings.
With Uwazuruike’s statement, many Ndiigbo are beginning to question his intelligence and integrity and are saying that he should stop flip-flopping as a leader. If he needs some psychoanalysis, he should tell Ndiigbo because he was supposed to understand that MASSOB and Boko Haram are at parallel lines, which means that they should never be compared nor equated. Ndiigbo are saying that Uwazuruike should better realize fast that it is much easier to give a money a cup but hard to collect it from her. Nothing could be better than constructive engagement secured under a BALANCED platform.
Ndiigbo are telling Uwazuruike that if at all the platform is not as balanced as would be expected; VIOLENCE should not present or be presented as the best option or remedy. MASSOB has carved such a non-violence niche for itself to the extent that the world community’s attention would always be riveted on virtually every issue that MASSOB murmurs about. This is such a big achievement that Uwazuruike should not allow any reckless sarcasm to undermine. It is time Uwazuruike realizes that MASSOB has so many silent followers and admirers all over the world and in which case he should ALWAYS make wider consultations before he spurts out any word that conveys seemingly group impression/implications. Ndiigbo in their entirely must condemn violence in whatever manner and embrace the ways of the blessed memories of Dr. Martins Luther King Jr., Mahatma Ghandhi, and all other non-violent crusaders.
