With lesser grip on things especially in-house squabbles, the founding leader of MASSOB, Chief Ralph Uwazuruike, said on Sunday that the group has undergone a name change.
MASSOB, Uwazuruike said has now transformed to Biafra Independent Movement (BIM).
He also tendered an unreserved apology to the people of the South-East, South-South and northerners over last week’s killings in the region during widespread demonstrations by the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB).
In a press conference at the Ojukwu Memorial Centre Sunday in Owerri, Imo State, Uwazuruike said MASSOB would henceforth be known as the Biafra Independent Movement (BIM), while the structure of the former MASSOB would now be reorganised as the youth arm of the new group, BIM.
He explained that the decision in the change of name has nothing to do with the alleged polarisation of MASSOB, but that it was for the purposes of the envisaged referendum, which the movement is seeking, adding that when the referendum is achieved, then BIM would become Biafra Independent Party (BIP).
“The BIM is now the new name of the mainstream pro- Biafra group which has been at the forefront for agitation of the independent state of Biafra since 1999. The name change was the resolution of the people. The former MASSOB will be reformed as the youth arm of the BIM. The change in name has nothing to do with the alleged factions in the movement because there are no factions in the movement.”
Uwazuruike laid blame for the continued protests of IPOB on the Department of State Services (DSS) over their wilful disobedience to release Nnamdi Kanu after he was granted bail by a court in Abuja.
-Emmanuel Ikechukwu
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