Ralph Uwazurike says Ndigbo are foolish because they only fight for their pockets

MOVEMENT for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra (Massob) founder Chief Ralph Uwazurike has described Ndigbo as foolish pointing out that an Igbo man will not become Nigeria's president because they only fight for their pockets.

Massob was founded to create an independent homeland for Igbos but of late, it has lost its leadership position in the campaign to Nnamdi Kanu's Indigenous People of Biafra (Ipob). Over the last two years since President Muhammadu Buhari came to power, calls for the creation of Biafra have intensified as he has marginalised Igbos in his appointments and Ndigbo appear to be in the political wilderness.

Yesterday, Chief Uwazurike said that Ndigbo are not looking like they will produce a president anytime soon because they only fight for their pocket. He recalled how Ndigbo was pushed aside after forming the former ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in 1999.

That year, former vice president Dr Alex Ekwueme, helped found the PDP and was hoping to become its presidential candidate but eventually lost the party nomination to Chief Olusegun Obasanjo. According to Chief Uwazurike, anyone calling for the unity of Nigeria does not mean well for the already troubled nation.

Chief Uwazurike said:  “Remember, it was the Igbo man that formed this PDP but they snatched it from him. Then, it was clear that an Igbo man would be the president of Nigeria but in Jos, it was the Igbo who robbed themselves of that opportunity.

"At that political event in Jos Ndigbo started speaking Hausa. The Igbo started sponsoring Obasanjo against Ekwueme, giving N100m and all that to another tribe to emerge, so let me tell you, the Igbo tribe is the most foolish tribe I have ever seen in the world."

Dr Ekwueme, who was buried on Friday, later ran for the presidency again in 2003 but again lost the primaries to the then incumbent Chief Obasanjo. According to Chief Uwazurike, Dr Ekwueme lost out because they betrayed their kinsman for money.

He added: “While the Yoruba embraced unity, the Igbo man was the person speaking Hausa in Jos, while the Igbo man was the one donating money against his own brother to another candidate. Is that a wise tribe?

"Then, who should I apologise to for using the word foolish? What have we achieved from the PDP? For how many years have the Yoruba people used the PDP? Eight years. Now, when it was the turn of the southeast, they sent it to the south-south.”