Leadership of the Biafra Independence Movement, BIM, and the Movement for Actualization of Sovereign State of Biafra, MASSOB, yesterday, expressed dismay at the order of Justice Kemakolam Ojiako of Owerri High Court, which ordered that its founder / leader, Chief Ralph Uwazuruike, be committed to prison custody for a period of one month, in a matter that had been appealed and which has been slated for hearing on October 2, 2018.
Presiding Justice Kemakolam Ojiako made the order in the civil case, HOW/265/2013, between Uwazuruike (plaintiff) and Barr. Chigozie Iheama and others over a land dispute.
Ruling on the motion on notice filed on July 6, 2017, by C.K. Okorie, counsel to the defendant, praying the court to commit the plaintiff/contemnor to prison for disobeying the order of the court, Ojiako ruled that, “The plaintiff, Chief Raphael Uwazuruike, is hereby found guilty of contempt/disobedience to the said order of court made on April 2, 2017.
“That the plaintiff, Chief Raphael Uwazuruike, is hereby committed/sentenced to prison custody and shall be so detained for a period of one month from the date of his commitment to prison.”
Reacting for the first time since the verdict, BIM in a press statement signed by the Biafra Director of Information, Mazi Chris Mocha, described the judge’s verdict as a kangaroo ruling.
“The members of BIM and MASSOB are solidly behind our leader, Chief Ralph Uwazuruike and his counsel, Barr. Emmanuel Chukwuka. We urge the presiding Judge, Justice Kemakolam Ojiako, to follow the normal legal practice and stay proceedings in the matter.
“We see it as a kangaroo ruling and only intended to impress the Imo State Governor, Owelle Rochas Okorocha, and cause disaffection among the Igbo populace,” Mocha said.
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