The Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) vowed to continue in its commitment towards actualizing the Biafra struggle through non-violence means.

Addressing journalists in Awka, Anambra State capital, Tuesday, on the occasion of the 17th anniversary of the formation of the movement, MASSOB leader, Comrade Uchenna Madu, said that the Biafra agitators were using the occasion to remember all those who lost their lives in the course of the struggle as well as those still languishing in the prisons.

He said: “Today, as we celebrate 17th anniversary of the formation of MASSOB, we remember our brothers and sisters, whose lives were cut shot because of Biafra in the hands of Nigerian security agents and those that are still being incarcerated in prisons.

“We remember our non-violence MASSOB members who died innocently and with brave heart for the Biafra cause. They were molested, mesmerised, humiliated and brutally killed by the armed security agents of our oppressors.

“Today, we the remnants of genuine MASSOB activists also remember the parents of our fallen heroes, some are still traumatised and some died because of shock, while others are living ghost of themselves.

“MASSOB still remembers our dead members who are still in mortuaries for the past ten years. They were brutally killed in Onitsha in June 2006 during an order of shoot at sight against armless MASSOB members.”

The MASSOB leader said that the group has noticed that some members of the Chief Ralph Uwazurike-led Biafra Indigenous Movement (BIM) were also marking the anniversary. He said that while the movement was not against such participation, it should be on record that there is only one MASSOB led by him, with its headquarters at Okwe in Imo State.

“While MASSOB acknowledges other Biafrans in celebrating with us, we counsel confused and brainwashed members of Uwazuruike’s BIM to understand their stand in the struggle, as a group of people cannot be MASSOB and BIM members at the same time under the leadership of two different persons.

“MASSOB has resolved that 17 years of the long walk to freedom can never be jeopardised, compromised or corrupted. We shall never relent in the Biafra struggle because the truth shall always prevail over falsehood,” he stated.

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