Apex Igbo socio-cultural organization, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, on Monday, came hard on Ralph Uwazurike over his endorsement of Yahaya Bello for the 2023 presidential election.
Uwazurike, founder of the Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra, MASSOB, now leader of Biafra Independence Movement, BIM, had over the weekend disowned the Igbo Presidency Project.
His action came as a shock to Ndigbo at a time the push for a Nigerian President of Igbo extraction is gaining momentum.
In a statement on Monday, the President-General, Ohanaeze Ndigbo Youth Council, Worldwide, Mazi Okwu Nnabuikehe said Uwazurike’s action was not a surprise as he had jettisoned the Biafra project in the past
Okwu said the former MASSOB leader is known to be a man “ready to trade off himself for peanuts at every slightest opportunity.”
The Ohanaeze youth leader, who was angry over the development, described Uwazurike as “ a persona non-grata, a serial betrayer and a man who has completely lost a sense of history.”
He disclosed that, “there were reports flying about that he did this volte face after collecting N20 million. We find it strange that he could sell his conscience just for a paltry N20m, to such an extent that a supposed pro-Biafra leader now talks so much about one Nigeria.
“However, we pity those who find anything meaningful in Uwazurike, a man who was dethroned as MASSOB leader because of the same reason. We know how he traded off the struggle in the past and was rewarded for betraying the same course he was pursuing.
“Uwazurike has long ago lost relevance in Igbo land and he knows it. Let him prove us wrong by stopping the Monday sit-at-home in Igbo land. He lacks the capacity owing to the fact that he currently has no followership. He is the leader and member of BIM, no other person has ever identified with that phoney group.”
“Having said that, we caution that any person having any dealings with him has entered a one-chance bus.”
He cautioned Uwazurike and his like to retrace their steps from a “destructive journey as the day of reckoning will surely come.”
“We are unfettered in our journey towards the realization of a Nigerian President of Igbo extraction. A million Uwazurike cannot stop the project which has received endorsement from several elder statesmen from across the country, including Afenifere leaders,” Okwu declared.