By PAMELA EBOH, Awka

The leadership of the Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) has taken a swipe at the Alhaji Yerima Shettima-led Arewa Youths Consultative Forum (AYCF) for comparing Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe’s surety for IPOB leader Nnamdi Kanu to that of Senator Ali Ndume on behalf of Abdulrasheed Maina.

It described the group’s stand as an expression of sadistic and tribalistic ethnic bias.

MASSOB accused AYCF of always allowing itself to be a willing tool of destruction in the hands of some primitive leaders.

A statement on Tuesday by MASSOB leader, Uchenna Madu, warned the group to stop “their systematic and calculated plan to blackmail the personality of Enyinnaya Abaribe”, saying that “MASSOB will never allow Arewa people to play their hypocritical game of pulling down the best leaders of Igbo people because of politics.”

The statement reads in part: “Senator Abaribe’s stand as surety to Nnamdi Kanu was totally different from the one Senator Ali Ndume stood for Maina Abdulrasheed.

“Maina was a corrupt criminal that shamelessly looted public fund when he was the chairman of the defunct National Pension Task Team. He laundered money meant for aged pensioners. He can never be compared with Nnamdi Kanu of the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB).

“Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe’s standing as surety for Nnamdi Kanu was a unanimous decision of Ndigbo; it was not a personal venture. The baseless treasonable and felonious court case against Nnamdi Kanu is closed because Nigeria government knows they have no evidence against Kanu. Any attempt or arrest on Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe will be resisted by Ndigbo.”