The Spokesperson for the Biafra Independent Movement, BIM, Mazi Chris Mocha has revealed that the former leader of the defunct Biafra, late Dim Chukwuemeka Ojukwu on October 29, 2007, handed the mantle of leadership to BIM/MASSOB founder, Chief Ralph Uwazuruike.
He said the late Ikemba Nnewi recognized Uwazuruike as his successor before his demise.
Mocha made this disclosure in Onitsha, Anambra state on Monday.
He noted that Ojukwu while still alive, showed in character, action and utterances that Uwazuruike had to succeed him.
According to Mocha, “when Uwazuruike who Ojukwu nicknamed (Okenwa) (great son) was detained in Keffi prisons in Nassarawa state, for treasonable charges, people had always asked: Who would be Ojukwu’s successor, if they didn’t find him”?
Mocha quoted Ojukwu as hugging Uwazuruike for 25 times on Monday, October 29, 2007 while receiving him at his residence in Enugu, shortly after Uwazuruike was granted a three-month bail by an Abuja High Court and declaring: “Today, I have answered that question. Uwazuruike has wiped out tears of Ndigbo for spending two years in prison. Okenwa went to prison for the sake of Ndigbo”.
Mocha recalled that Uwazuruike had been arrested on Tuesday October 25, 2005 by the Operatives of the Department of State Services, DSS, who disguised themselves as National Youth Service Corps, NYSC, members.
He quoted Ojukwu of making the declaration in Igbo dialect in the presence of former Senator Uche Chukwumerije, Senator Ikechukwu Obiorah, former APGA National Chairman, Chief Victor Umeh, Eze Ndigbo in Abuja, and Chief Nwosu among others.
“Uwazuruike is my begotten son with whom I am well pleased because all the messages I kept getting from him while he was in the prison custody was not to tell me that he was hungry or tired and required support, but rather he kept telling me that he was healthy and that he stood by the struggle”, he further quoted Ojukwu as saying.
Recently, the Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra lamented that Igbo leaders no longer respected the leader of the defunct Republic of Biafra, the late Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu.
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