[allAfrica.com] [Africa_2004] The Raid On Biafran Headquarters Security Operatives Storm MASSOB The News (Lagos) ANALYSIS November 1, 2004 Posted to the web October 26, 2004 By Uba Aham The raid on the headquarters of the Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra, MASSOB, in Okwe, Onuimo council area of Imo State on 13 October was long expected. For more than four years, the organisation had continued its agitation to exhume the carcass of Biafra from the grave, where it was consigned over three decades ago. Initially, the agitation was ignored. But on 26 August this year, the Federal Government could no longer ignore it after MASSOB succeeded in shutting down Eastern Nigeria. That day, the group's directive to Ndigbo to sit at home was fully complied with to the consternation of government and its security agencies. The recent raid, which was carried out by operatives from the Imo State Security Services, SSS, with police cover, was meant to forestall similar 'subversive activities' by the group. Both state security men and policemen, numbering about 100, had reportedly stormed the organization's headquarters located in the home country of its leader, Chief Ralph Uwazurike. Although Uwazurike himself escaped, 11 of his members in Biafran Army uniforms, were allegedly whisked away by the operatives. Uwazurike who spoke to TheNEWS from hiding alleged that the plot was aimed at eliminating him with a view to scuttling the realization of the Biafran nation. According to the MASSOB chief, the operatives, on gaining entrance, fired indiscriminately and vandalized the buildings. He said the raid lasted for over two hours and that the operatives came in nine trucks and two vans. His house, he alleged, was ransacked and communication gadgets were carted away. The security operatives also filmed their activities in the MASSOB headquarters. The security operatives also ransacked Uwazurike's bedroom, his jeep and his mother's building. Also ransacked and filmed was the administrative headquarters of the proposed Biafra Republic popularly called "Biafran Freedom House". The building is still under construction. Uwazurike's escape, this magazine learnt, was facilitated by the sophisticated communication network in the headquarters. He was promptly alerted by his security men about the arrival of the operatives, leading to his escape. The operatives, according to Uwazurike, took away the sum of N110,000, a carton of radio communication gadgets, MTN handsets, including his own private handset, clothes, MASSOB ID cards and Biafran hand books amongst others. In another breadth, MASSOB's Director of Information, Uchenna Duru, accused the security operatives of carting away N1.3 million which, he claimed, was raised by the organization to solve its logistic problems. Duru called on human rights organizations worldwide to intervene over the incessant onslaught against Biafran agitators in the country. He also urged the United Nations, UN, to intervane. However, the SSS debunked the claims of both Uwazurike and Duru over the number of arrests made and the removal of money from the MASSOB headquarters during the operation. Alex Amaechina, the SSS Director in Imo State, told TheNEWS that his men arrested only two MASSOB members during the raid. Amaechina explained that by the time his men arrived the headquarters, the members, including Uwazurike, had been alerted, leading to their escape. The SSS boss denied that his men removed money or any of the alleged items during the operation. He, however, admitted that the operatives took away a few subversive items from the compound. One of the items in the custody of the SSS, for instance, bears the inscription, "Directorate of Works and Transport, Republic of Biafra." Amaechina, denied that his men vandalized Uwazurike's compound and the Biafran Freedom House. "We picked only two people. The claims are false. We filmed our operation. Nothing was destroyed," he said. The raid was informed by a tip-off that MASSOB had planned to join the recent labour strike and, in the process, agitate for the creation of Republic of Biafra. According to the SSS Director, the raid was carried out in order to stop a meeting of MASSOB national directors and provincial administrators which Uwazurike had scheduled for 13 October to discuss the issue of their members joining the strike and carrying out pro-Biafra demonstrations nationwide. He argued that MASSOB is not a labour union, but wanted to hide under the labour strike to propagate the ideals of Biafra and call for secession. "So, the plan was for the whole south eastern states to roll out their membership to march along the streets demanding for Biafra because, according to them, the federal government has failed, and the only solution for the Igbos is to secede from Nigeria. As such, we decided to take a pre-emptive action because if we had allowed them to execute their plans, it would have become a serious problem", Amaechina stated. The SSS boss maintained that what Uwazurike's organization is doing is criminal, and amounts to treason. He accused Uwazurike of exploiting the ignorance of the uninformed members of the society to enrich himself. He said his organization discovered that Uwazurike realizes hundreds of thousands of naira monthly through levies on members whom he assures that Biafra would be realized as soon as he makes proclamation to that effect. The MASSOB Chief, he further alleged, regularly travels overseas to raise huge sums of money from Ndigbo in the diaspora. It is with these funds, according to him, that Uwazurike is putting up the multi-million naira Biafran House which, he insists, belongs to him (Uwazurike). The gate house of the building alone, he claimed, is estimated at over N10 million. The SSS Director alleged: "Uwazurike uses the generated funds for the building of the Biafran House. And, this house is being built in his village, Okwe, in his father's compound and in his name. So, Uwazurike is MASSOB and MASSOB is for Biafra, and Biafra is for Uwazurike". The SSS has warned MASSOB to refrain from its treasonable activities or face the wrath of the law. But MASSOB has shrugged off such threats, saying that attacks from security agencies will not deter it from agitating for Biafra. Duru, the organization's Director of Information, maintained that, rather than deter it, the latest raid has gingered the members to show "more than extra determination and commitment to the Biafran cause" Meanwhile, MASSOB members have begun deserting the towns in droves. These are Okpe, the headquarters of the organisation, Aba, Umahia, Owerri, Abakaliki, Enugu, Awka, Nnewi and others. On 15 September, no fewer than 53 members of MASSOB were arrested at Abule -Ado end of Ojo, Lagos. According to a reports, they were picked up on the premises of a technical school where they were holding heir monthly meeting. They were later taken to the States Criminal Investigation Department for interrogation before being remanded in prison custody at Kirikiri. MASSOB officers and members nation-wide have been subjected to similar raids and arrests since 1999 when the organization was formed. The organization claims that it has lost over 1000 of its members as well as valuable property in the course of such raids. In 2000, the Biafran House in Okigwe, Imo State, was allegedly burnt down by the police while the members were routed. Uwazurike, the founder, has been in and out of detention over the Biafra course. "When they arrest me, I have the impression that they could also kill me. It is just like each morning I wake up I think I would die that same day. If I live to the next day, I thank God for sparing my life." Uwazurike told this magazine in a recent interview. The tremendous success recorded by the organization when it directed Ndigbo to sit at home on 26 August has, questioned the competence of the security agencies in living up to their constitutional responsibilities in relation to the maintenance of law, order and oneness of Nigeria. With a more sensitized and alert security on one hand, and with a more adamant and daring MASSOB on the other, it is only time that will tell what will happen as the raids continue.   =============================================================================   Copyright © 2004 The News. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). =============================================================================