ten days after their leader, Chief Ralph Uwazuruike called on the Chairman of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof Attahiru Jega, to quit office, thousands of members of the Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) yesterday took to the streets in the five states of the South- East to press home their demand.
The protesting MASSOB members, some of them dressed in the Navy blue Biafra uniform with the rising sun barge, carried placards with inscriptions: “Jega must go”, “We will disrupt the elections if Jega is conducting it”, “Sack Jega now,” as they went round the cities continuously shouting, “Jega must go.”
The protest staged in all the three senatorial zones of the five states and Asaba, Delat State capital, was disrupted in Aba, Abia State, by soldiers who used horsewhips on the MASSOB members, while the police in Anambra State and Abakaliki, Ebonyi State arrested some of them.
As early as 10:00a.m, the MASSOB members, who arrived in Enugu in over 50 buses, assembled at Edinburg Road from where they marched through the Old Park and round the Coal City, shouting, “Jega must go”, vowing to disrupt the forthcoming elections if he does not quit.
As they marched round Enugu, the group refused to talk with journalists, but their leader, Uwazuruike, was called over the phone and he said: “We are organising the protest against Jega because he is biased and cannot conduct credible elections for Nigerians.
“We know that he has sympathy for APC and if allowed to conduct the elections, he will definitely favour the party and when that happens, there will be crisis and people will die.
“The crisis can even lead to war and we don’t want bloodshed. We are not hiding the fact that we are supporting Jonathan because of the honour he accorded our leader, Dim Odumegwu-Ojukwu. We are sure that if the election is free and fair, Jonathan will win; so, Jega who has showed his sympathy for APC should not be allowed to conduct the elections.”
In Onitsha, MASSOB members, numbering over 3,000, disrupted human and vehicular movements in Awka New Market, Old Market and Court roads as well as other roads and streets of the commercial nerve centre, as they insisted that Jega must leave office before March 28 presidential election.
The presence of the protesters drew the attention of the Onitsha Police Area Commander, Mr Philip Ezekiel and the DPO in charge of Inland Town Police Station, Mr. Cosmas Eze, who came out to ensure there was no breakdown of law and order.
They also carried placards with the inscriptions: “Jega must go,” “With Prof. Jega no election in Nigeria”, “INEC under Jega is fraud”,” Jega is working to return power to the North”, “Jega deliberately wanted to disenfranchise Ndigbo”, “Continued marginalization of Ndigbo is unacceptable to MASSOB”.
Addressing newsmen, the leader of MASSOB in Anambra North Senatorial District, Mazi Chris Mocha, said their reason for demanding Jega’s removal or resignation was that of his alleged nocturnal meeting with his kinsmen in the North.
“All Prof. Jega’s activities have been targeted against the Igbo race, and MASSOB is a movement fighting for Igbo emancipation, so we have decided that we will no longer allow such ill-treatment against Ndigbo to continue, hence the call for his removal.
“Prof. Jega held series of meetings with his Muslim brothers in Saudi Arabia over the conduct of the general elections and how to return power by hook or crook to the North, without considering the feelings of other Nigerians,” he alleged.
Mocha also said: “Jega skewed the distribution of Permanent Voters Card (PVC) in favour of the North East and North-West and North Central with the aim of giving his people voting power against the entire South-East, South-West and South-South, and was also involved in the worrisome and aborted additional 30,027 polling units (PU), which he allotted over 21,027 while leaving the entire South to scramble for about 9000.”
But, the Onitsha Area Commander, Mr Ezekiel denied the allegation, saying that he actually sent out over 10 police vans to monitor the protest and when they discovered it was peaceful, he allowed them, wondering how police would arrest peaceful protesters.
In Abakaliki, the Ebonyi State capital, the police disrupted the protest by over 3,000 MASSOB members who came from every part of the state to converge on its regional headquarters along Hatchery Road, Abakaliki, from where they took to the streets of Abakaliki through Nkaliki road to Speri-in-Deo junction with, “Prof Jega must go” placards.
As the MASSOB leaders in the state – Mr. Gideon Iloke, the zonal leader of North zone and the spokesman, Mr Moses Eze were addressing journalists at the junction, policemen from the divisional police station ‘A’ and Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) stormed the place and teargassed the protesters who scampered for safety.
But the MASSOB members later re-grouped at the same junction, telling the police to allow them continue with their peaceful protest and the police resisted them, firing more teargas canisters and chased them away.
In Owerri, Imo State, the MASSOB members, who chanted pro-Biafra songs, displayed placards with inscription, “Jega is a disgrace to Nigeria election.” “Jega must Go.” “With Jega MASSOB will disrupt election.” “We do not want Jega.”
In a statement jointly signed by Owerri, Orlu and Okigwe zonal leaders: Chiefs Okechukwu Nwaogu, Emma Akabekwe, and Kingsley Ezeugo, the movement called for the immediate sack of the INEC chairman, insisting that if allowed to oversee the general elections, the INEC boss would sabotage it.
In Aba, Abia State, the MASSOB protest almost turned sour as some of the members were beaten up with horse whip by soldiers.
What was to happen to the MASSOB members began to unfold earlier in the morning when before they arrived Asa/ Ngwa Road junction, the agreed take-off point, soldiers numbering over 20 had already taken positions in strategic areas around the place.
Not withstanding the presence of the soldiers who came in about six Toyota Hilux vans, the MASSOB members assembled in the area, but were to be shortly dispersed by stern- looking soldiers.
Not deterred by the soldiers’ action, they re-grouped in another location from where they marched through some of the city’s streets, chanting war songs and carrying placards, some of which read: “Jega must go”, “We don’t want him to conduct the next elections”, “Ndigbo have suffered enough in the hands of Nigeria”, “Any election conducted by Jega means more suffering for Ndigbo.”
However, as the protesters headed towards St. Michael’s road, where most newspaper houses have their offices, the soldiers got the information and intercepted them at the St. Michael’s Road/ York Street junction.
The soldiers, who cordoned off the area, arrested about 20 of them, who after taking their photographs and addressing them, beat them up with horsewhips before allowing them to run in different directions.
Speaking after the incident, MASSOB Aba region administrator, Mr. Larry Odinma, said the movement’s protest was hinged on the fact that the INEC chairman must not be allowed to conduct the elections.
At Nnewi, Anambra State, over 3,000 members of MASSOB from Anambra South Senatorial zone made up of seven local government areas led by Mrs. Virginia Ubazuonu, trooped out to Nkwo Nnewi Triangle, where they started the Jega-must-go protest.
Mrs. Ubazuonu, who later addressed newsmen, said the movement observed that INEC chairman had compromised to rig out President Jonathan. She said the group was calling for a fresh electoral umpire to take over from Jega, saying: “We totally reject him.”
In Awka, the capital of Anambra State, the MASSOB members were led in the protest by the Awka Zonal leader, Jaway Okosi and the Awka South Administrator, Chief Arinze Igbani.
Speaking to newsmen on what led to the protest, Mr. Okosi described Jega as a saboteur and one who had a hidden agenda against Ndigbo.
Also the protest for Abia North zone of the movement took place at Ohafia, Abia State.
After going round the major streets of Ohafia town, the over 2,000 placard-carrying members of the movement drawn from Umunneochi, Isuikwuato, Bende, Ohafia and Arochukwu converged on Afia Isiama, in Elu Ohafia, where the administrator, Evangelist Egwu Arua, addressed the crowd and newsmen on the reason they were asking for Jega’s removal.
While some wore their uniforms, others dressed in one form of uniform or the other. Some of their placards read: “Jega must go”, “Your Job is over.”
In Umuahia, MASSOB members numbering over 1,000 went round the city from ITC park .
Speaking during the exercise, Mrs. Comfort Okpokiri said that the aim of the rally was to ask Jega, who she alleged was biased to go.
In Asaba, Delta State, the protesters, who marched through major streets of the capital, alleged allocation of more PVCs to the North ahead of the March 28 and April 11 elections as their major grouse.
Leader of the placard bearing protesters and Zonal Administrator of Anioma region of MASSOB, Mr. Emeka Okafor urged the Federal Government and the National Assembly to sack Jega before the March 28 presidential election for the sake of peace.
Okafor also called on Jega to voluntarily vacate office as INEC chairman to avoid crisis, saying: “When crisis erupts, the Southerners and their property are the target. We must avoid a re-occurrence of 1964 pre-election crisis, in which a number of southerners lost their lives. That should not be allowed to happen again.”
