MASSOB backs ex-militants' ultimatum to FG

The Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra has thrown its weight behind the 31-day ultimatum given to the Federal Government by ex-Niger Delta militants who are demanding for the release of Nnamdi Kanu.

The former militants, in a demonstration of solidarity with the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra and other pro-Biafra activists had asked the Federal Government to release Kanu within 31 days or face severe consequences.

In an interview with our correspondent, the MASSOB National Director of Information, Samuel Edeson, said the pro-Biafra activists were in support of the step taken by the ex-militants.

Edeson explained that the pro-Biafra agitators and the ex-militants were fighting the same cause.

According to him, although the secessionists do not believe in using violence to actualise the struggle, the former militants are free to employ any means they deem fit towards realising the goal.

'We (MASSOB) support them (ex-militants) because if they felt that it is the only way for them to go about the struggle, they have the right to do what they are doing. They have not taken up arms against the country and the Federal Government, they are only making a demand,' Edeson said.

He, however, stated that the Biafra activists were not in a partnership with the ex-Niger Delta warlords.

'We are not working in partnership with them but we are fighting the same cause. They are Biafrans and we are also Biafrans. We as MASSOB, we don't believe in violence but they, as militants, want to use the approach they know best, and the means at their disposal, to press home the demand for Nnamdi Kanu's release. We are not working in partnership but we are all fighting a common cause as Biafrans. We don't know them (Niger Delta militants) in person.

'We have come to understand that the Federal Government believes in violence. If not, why will they go to Aba where MASSOB and IPOB members were praying and shot at them?' he said.

Edeson accused the government of promoting strife instead of peace and dialogue by refusing to release Kanu.

He also accused the Federal Government of treating Igbos differently.

'Maybe the Federal Government wants to see what the Igbos will do. In this country called Nigeria, if a non-Igbo person does something the Federal Government will not bother, but if an Igbo man does the same thing the Federal Government will treat him as a criminal,' Edeson said. Punch