MASSOB changes name, now Biafra Independent Movement –Uwazuruike

Posted by admin Biafra, Headlines Sunday, December 6th, 2015

Says IPOB should protest in Abuja, Lagos, not South-East

From George Onyejiuwa, Owerri

Less than a week after Uchenna Madu’s faction of Movement for the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) expelled its founding leader, Chief Ralph Uwazuruike, the latter said, yesterday, the group has undergone a name change.
MASSOB, Uwazuruike said yesterday, has now transformed to Biafra Independent Movement (BIM).
He also tendered an unreserved apology to the people of the South-East, South-South and northerners over last week’s killings in the region during widespread demonstrations by the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB).
This was as he has urged members of IPOB to take their demonstrations to Abuja and Lagos where their impact can be felt instead of destabilising the South-East.
Addresing a press conference at the Ojukwu Memorial Centre yesterday in Owerri, Imo State, Uwazuruike said MASSOB would henceforth be known as the Biafra Independent Movement (BIM), while the structure of the former MASSOB would now be reorganised as the youth arm of the new group, BIM.
He explained that the decision in the change of name has nothing to do with the alleged polarisation of MASSOB, but that it was for the purposes of the envisaged referendum, which the movement is seeking, adding that when the referendum is achieved, then BIM would become Biafra Independent Party (BIP).
“The BIM is now the new name of the mainstream pro- Biafra group which has been at the forefront for agitation of the independent state of Biafra since 1999. The name change was the resolution of the people. The former MASSOB will be reformed as the youth arm of the BIM. The change in name has nothing to do with the alleged factions in the movement because there are no factions in the movement.”
Uwazuruike laid blame for the continued protests of IPOB on the Department of State Services (DSS) over their wilful disobedience to release Nnamdi Kanu after he was granted bail by a court in Abuja.

-Sunwp_posts