Four persons were feared dead as the crisis rocking the Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) escalated yesterday.

There were also reports that dissatisfied members of the movement had ousted the leader of the group, Chief Ralph Uwazuruike after over­powering his loyalists in a fierce battle.

Daily Sun reliably gathered that heavy fighting broke out at the administrative headquarters of the group in Okwe in Onuimo Local Government Area of Imo State as early as 7.30 a.m. when suspected armed thugs numbering over 5,000 invaded the facility, apparently to dislodge the commanders, who had earlier taken over the premises on the alleged orders of the MASSOB leader.

National Secretary of the movement, Ugwuoke Ugwuoke, who confirmed the incident, said Uwazuruike recruited the thugs, who allegedly attacked the headquarters with sophisticated weapons but were resisted by MASSOB commanders, who had already taken over the secretariat.

“So many people have been wounded in the early morning attack and those people were not members of MASSOB but were hired by Uwazuruike from Onitsha to come and assassinate us because we challenged his style of leadership, but we overpowered them and we have taken over the headquarters of MASSOB. Uwazuruike has turned the struggle as a personal property.”

He added: “Our crime is that we told him to reduce the dues collected from poor members of MASSOB, who toil monthly to pay money into his personal account.

“As I speak with you, over N20 million is remitted to his account monthly, while those who died in the struggle have been abandoned in the mortuaries without proper burial.

“What we are saying is that we can no longer be used by Uwazuruike to enrich himself. While we are dying, he is busy buying houses and exotic cars, but we cannot continue like this anymore. We are calling on Igbo leaders to intervene because Uwazuruike has used the blood of innocent Igbo youths, who are killed daily while obeying his orders, to make money.”

Similarly, Ndubuisi Igwekani, the leader of the Biafra Defence Mission, stated that if swift actions were not taken to call Uwazuruike to order, the security situation in Igboland would worsen.

“We have called on Igbo leaders, especially Ohanaeze Ndigbo, to call Uwazuruike to order because his kind of Biafra was not the one Ojukwu fought for. He has abandoned the struggle and now uses MASSOB as a means to extort Ndigbo; we are out to stop him no matter what he does.”

•Text courtesy of Daily Sun. Photo shows embattled MASSOB Leader Uwazuruike.