MASSOB’S Stay-at-Home Order Flops
By Chris Ajaero
Monday, September 01, 2008
Igbo traders in many parts of Nigeria ignore the call by the Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra, MASSOB, to stay at home for one day
The renewed agitation for Biafra spearheaded by the Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra, MASSOB, suffered a setback last Thursday. Unlike the situation on August 26, 2004, when the people of the old Eastern region obeyed MASSOB’s stay-at-home order with passion, this year’s "Biafra Day" failed to live up to expectation.
Ralph Uwazuruike, MASSOB leader, had in line with the group’s non-violent approach to the struggle for the actualisation of Biafra asked Ndigbo to voluntarily stay at home last Thursday, August 28. This was to last from 7.00 am to 4.00pm. It was meant to paralyse commercial and economic activities in the South-East as a protest over percieved marginalisation of the Igbos.
But last Thursday, the stay-at-home-order did not record impressive result as most traders, transporters, market women and civil servants from the South-East ignored the call and went about their activities. Newswatch monitored some of the major markets in Onitsha, Aba, Enugu, Owerri, Nwewi, Abuja, Kaduna, Kano and Lagos, and found that Igbo traders did not close their shops as they did in 2004 in obedience to the directive by MASSOB. Banks also opened for normal transactions in all parts of the South-East.
In Okigwe, the stay-at-home order was partially successful. Okigwe is the headquarters of MASSOB. Many shops and markets were closed. In some parts of Lagos, particularly Katangowa market in Abule Egba, many Igbo traders closed their shops in line with MASSOB’s call for civil disobedience.
The scheduled visit of Vincent Ogbulafor, national chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, to Anambra State for the party’s congress was also cancelled because of MASSOB’s stay-at-home order.
Some of the traders who went contrary to MASSOB’s order, told Newswatch that people were no longer passionate about the new Biafra renaissance as was the case in 2004. Kenneth Okeke, an Onitsha based businessman, told Newswatch that many people failed to comply with MASSOB’s stay-at-home order because MASSOB is no longer as popular as it used to be. He explained that the arrest and detention of Uwazuruike by the federal government greatly whittled down the influence of MASSOB in Igboland.
Kelechukwu Ogbodo, a trader at Ogbete main market Enugu told Newswatch that people are no longer eager to abide by MASSOB’s directive because despite the fact that the 2004 "Biafra Day" was religiously observed, the actualisation of the Republic of Biafra is still like a pipe dream. He said most traders were disappointed that after abiding by the 2004 stay-at-home order with the hope that the United Nations, UN, would proclaim the Sovereign State of Biafra, there was no sign that Biafra will soon be a reality. "We are tired of closing our shops for a whole day in compliance with MASSOB’s stay-at-home order which does not put money into our pockets," Ogbodo said.
But, Martin Ben-Tzion, an Asaba- based MASSOB activist told Newswatch that Uwazuruike’s long period of incarceration impacted negatively on MASSOB. "It also had to do with the inability of the chief propagandist of the movement, Uche Madu, to evade arrest. But retreat is a strategy of war. The vision will certainly be revived and Biafra actualised," Ben-Tzion said.
Apart from Biafran fatigue, the directive by some state governments in the South-East urging the people to discountenance the sit-at-home order also affected it. For instance, Abia Onyike, special assistant to Ebonyi State governor on media, had advised indigenes of the state to shun MASSOB’s directive. He described the directive as ill-motivated, unlawful and misleading. He warned that anybody who complied with the order by either not going to work would lose his job while traders who comply would have their shops permanently sealed. "Having regard to the over-riding need to maintain law and order and to guarantee security of law abiding residents of the state, the government hereby urges all citizens to disregard the order and go about their lawful duties. The state government will not hesitate to permanently close down and seal up any firm, market or business organisation that obeys or complies with the MASSOB order or any other order by MASSOB henceforth."
Onyike explained that the law enforcement agencies were been placed on red alert to maintain law and order and ensure that citizens who went about their lawful duties were not molested.
Besides, MASSOB did not make enough efforts to sensitise the people and raise the consciousness of Ndigbo on the need to heed its call for civil disobedience as it did in August 2004.
In 2004, motorcyclists, popularly called Okada riders openly used Biafran stickers on their motorcycles without qualms. The Biafran flag was also hoisted in many communities, town halls and market squares in the South-East. All these factors raised the new spirit of Biafra nationalism among Ndigbo in 2004. But these were lacking in this year’s "Biafra Day" and made many Easterners to maintain a lukewarm attitude to last Thursday’s stay-at-home order.
Despite the unimpressive outcome of last Thursday’s "Biafra Day," leaders of MASSOB said it would not deter them in their struggle to actualise the Sovereign State of Biafra. Great Nnamdi, MASSOB’s regional administrator in Lagos, told Newswatch that the struggle for Biafra was unstoppable. He said that he personally monitored observance of the stay-at-home order and found out that many people did not abide by the directive as was the case in 2004 because of the hunger in the land and the fact that an average Igbo man believes in instant result.
Nnamdi said that now that the stay-at-home order had come and gone, MASSOB’s regional administrators would meet with Uwazuruike at Freedom House, its headquarters in Okigwe to review its outcome and strategise on how to proceed with the next stage of the struggle.
Uwazuruike, the arrowhead of the struggle for the actualisation of Biafra has always said that there are 25 stages involved in the struggle. According to him, civil disobedience which the stay-at-home order entails is the fourth stage. He anticipates that between the fifth and sixth stages, Biafra would have become a reality.
|
