MASSOB threatens showdown over convicted members

Posted by admin Headlines Monday, May 14th, 2012

Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) says
its members would embark on nationwide demonstration should the conviction of
its members in Asaba, the Delta State capital, not be quashed.
Six members
of the organisation namely, Sunday Okoro, Ifeanyi Igbozuruike, Francis Onuigbo,
Sebastian Nworie, Emmanuel Nwafor and Chidi Okafor were last Tuesday, sentenced
to six months imprisonment each by an Asaba magistrate court for belonging to
MASSOB.

Speaking with Daily Sun, the administrator for Aba region, Fred
Onyenucheya, said it was wrong for the court to have convicted the men based on
the fact that they were MASSOB members.

The administrator who spoke
through the Aba Region Director of Information, Sunny Okereafor, expressed
reservations over the manner the case was handled, claiming that the trial
magistrate erred when he hurriedly sentenced on the accused when they did not
plead guilty to the charges preferred against them.

Onyenucheya wondered
why governments and their agencies should continue to dissipate their energy on
MASSOB, which was a non-violent organisation while at the same time, treating
members of Boko Haram who have waged war against their fatherland with kid’s
glove.

“If someone who was accused of sponsorship of Boko Haram could be
granted bail by a court of law, why should another court in the land not grant
bail to men who were accused of only wearing Biafran camouflage?” he queried.

He said it was for this discriminatory treatment the Igbos were subjected to
in the country that made MASSOB to begin the struggle for a separate state for
the people of the South-east.

He reiterated the resolve of members of
the organisation to embark on nationwide protest should the attorney general of
the federation and minister of justice and that of Delta State fail to secure
the reversal of the judgment and set their members free.

-Sun

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