Tension is mounting over the May 22, 2023 commemoration of the 23rd year of the re-declaration of the ‘New Biafra’ at faulks road, Aba, Abia State, on May 22, 2000, by Movement for Actualization of Sovereign State of Biafra , MASSOB, and Biafra Independence Movement, BIM.
Chief Ralph Uwazuruike, the movement leader, said Monday, in Onitsha, that the 2023 Biafra Day celebration was in line with the non -violence principle of the movement.
In a statement signed on his behalf by his Director of Information/ Senior Special Assistant to BIM/MASSOB on Media and Publicity, Mazi Chris Anierobi Mocha, Uwazuruike said, according to world history, ‘there was no revolutionary struggles, no matter how long it takes , has ever failed to achieve its goals and objectives.
He admitted that starting a revolution as he did 23 years ago at faulks road, Aba, was the most trying times and difficult decision anyone could take in his lifetime but did it and carried the cross for the sake of the oppressed and marginalized people of Biafra.
Uwazuruike listed some of the activities lined up for this year anniversary celebration to include among others, bringing to the attention of the Unrepresented Nations and People’s Organizations, UNPO, and other UN bodies to the fact that Biafra struggle for independence from Nigeria is still on course and free Biafra from Nigeria.
On why he has chosen May 22nd, every year as Biafra Day as against May 30, Uwazuruike said, what he re-declared at Aba on May 22nd, 2000 ( 23 years ago) was ‘New Biafra’.
He explained further that BIM-MASSOB as the main body genuinely fighting for the emancipation struggle for independent Biafra, is not in conflict with the Biafra of the old, pointing out that every May 30 was set aside by BIM-MASSOB for football matches in memory of the fallen heroes of Biafra.
He disclosed that the name ‘New Biafra’, was derived from the fact that the Biafra of today is different from the Biafra of 1967.
The Biafra of 1967 according to the Biafran leader, was characterized by violence and led to loss of about 3 million lives while the New Biafra which he started on September 13, 1999, and submitted the Bill of Rights to United Nations on November 1st, 1999, was built on Non-violence and Non- exodus philosophy.
He enjoined all the members of BIM-MASSOB wherever they are found at home or in Diaspora to celebrate the 23rd anniversary in their various regional offices.
Explaining further, the MASSOB leader said, ” the former Biafra led by Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu was discontinued after about three years of war (1967 -1970), while the New Biafra is a continuation of the former, with new method, new concept and new ideology.”
