The Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra MASSOB, said yesterday that it has sacrificed itself to liberate Igbo from marginalisation.
MASSOB leader Chief Ralph Uwazuruike, said MASSOB is suffering for Ndigbo but rather than they being appreciated, their people have kept castigating them.
The group insisted that hoodlums and other groups committed crimes that were linked to MASSOB.
Uwazuruike, who spoke through his Personal Assistant, Emmanuel Omenka, in Onitsha said: “Last Saturday’s sit-at-home was in commemoration of six Igbo traders killed by the police at Apo Village Abuja and those killed by the Boko Haram, those killed and dumped at Ezu River, Amansea and others killed in Northern Nigeria.
“MASSOB sacrifices itself for Ndigbo. Igbo, you have seen that MASSOB is suffering for you. It is left for you to know if you will support MASSOB or not,” he said.
He said soldiers allegedly killed about eight MASSOB members during the sit-at-home protest, arrested many others and whisked them to Awka, the state capital.
According to him, MASSOB is a non-violent organisation fighting for the actualisation of a Biafran Republic.
He however expressed optimism that one day the dream would be realised adding, “I am happy at the extent of the successful observation of the sit-at-home by the Igbo, especially traders, civil servants, students and other professionals”.
Omenka who is also the Regional Administrator of Ogbaru, in Anambra, warned that MASSOB would not continue to keep quiet while Igbo land is desecrated by foreigners.
He described the killing of MASSOB members last Saturday as “deliberate by soldiers working for Boko Haram.”