YES, MASSOB HAS OUTLIVED ITS USEFULNESS

Culled from: VANGUARD

Comrade Archiboy Agbaigba is the President of Oha Ukwa-Ngwa Congress
in Abia State. He is also an Aba based civilrights activist. In this
interview, he asserts among others that the Movement for the Sovereign
State of Biafra (MASSOB) has ...
outlived its usefulness. Excerpts:
What is your reaction to the recent assertions by MASSOB thatthe
present Abia State government is a failure?
It is very unfortunate that the group will come out now to reenact
what they did last time, which affected our people negatively. MASSOB
has outlived its usefulness, if there were any. Their sweeping
criticism of the present government betrayed the facts on the ground.
The level of development we are witnessing in Abia today is quite
encouraging, It has never happened before in the history of the state.
So for a group thatis not known in the state to make such uninformed
criticism smacks of mischief.
Ralph Uwazuruike, MASSOB leader
Some insist that MASSOB is not entirely wrong in its appraisal of the
governor's performance. Do you and your congress sharethe same
feeling?
They are wrong. Their criticisms are completely misplaced. Our people
are scared of their true intention. They will not forget ina hurry how
the same MASSOB scared Aba people away from the last census exercise.
It was that singular antic that made ourpeople, particularly the
Ukwa-Ngwa people to be grossly undercounted during that exercise, so
we cannot with all seriousness accept the MASSOB posturing again.
They also did the same thing during the voters' registration exercise
stopping our people from registering to vote in the misguided fallacy
that Biafra was going to be realized through the United Nations' fiat.
The irony is that MASSOB has suddenly found its voice when the state
has zoned the 2015 governorship of the state to Ukwa-Ngwa in Abia
South zone.
Achievement of equity
The zone has remained patient and God brought T.A Orji who has not
hidden his avowed desire to achieve equity in the state to pronounce
that the governorship is zoned to Abia South thus giving us the
opportunity to produce the governor of the state for the first time in
2015. Now, MASSOB has suddenly woken up to champion Abia cause. What a
lame cause.
You did say that MASSOB's scare mongering tactics have mostly robbed
off on the people negatively. Can you expantiatefurther on this?
Yes, MASSOB's penchant for scare-mongering has robbed off negatively
on Ndigbo in general, not only on our people. The last census exercise
is a case in point, so their antics are no longer acceptable to us.
They are a group for sale. They are being used to propagate mischief
and we will not allow them to halt the pace of progress in Abia.
But MASSOB claims to be agitating for the overall interest of the
Igbo. Do you share a contrary view in the light of the prevailing
circumstance?
It is a false claim. Where are they in Abia? They are in Imo statenot
in Abia. Even in Imo what do they do apart from extorting money from
hapless citizens in Okigwe? Can they point at any achievement on
behalf of Ndigbo if not for their destabilizing tendencies. If they
are genuine, honestly we will support their cause but minus the call
for the Igbo not to be part of Nigeria. Their latest outburst is
misplaced and has portrayed them as hired goons. We have not seen any
good that MASSOB has done in all the years of agitation except sending
our youths to avoidable death in the name of searching for Biafra.
What advise do you have for Governor Orji?
Don't lose focus. Remain steadfast. The government and governor Orji
must ensure that his legacy projects are not cut short by such unholy
distraction.