The Biafra Independence Movement and Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra (BIM-MASSOB), has made allegations against former Anambra State Governor and presidential candidate of Labour Party (LP), Peter Obi, and ex-Imo State Governor, Rochas Okorocha, stating that they betrayed the late Biafran leader, Chukwuemeka Ojukwu.
According to a statement released on Wednesday by Mazi Mocha, the Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity to BIM-MASSOB, both Obi and Okorocha were accused of abandoning the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) after serving as governors and defecting to other political parties.
The group emphasized Ojukwu’s pivotal role in their political careers, highlighting that without his intervention, Obi would not have assumed the governorship in Anambra State in 2003.
He said, “As BIM-MASSOB prepares to celebrate the 12th edition of Ojukwu Memorial Day on November 26, there was a need for the leadership to let the world know that former governors of Anambra State, Peter Obi, and his Imo State counterpart, Chief Rochas Okorocha, betrayed the late Dim Chukwuemeka Ojukwu.
“A few months after the demise of the founder of APGA in November 2011, and the funeral ceremony in 2012, Peter Obi defected to the Peoples Democratic Party where he later became the vice presidential candidate to Alhaji Atiku Abubakar of the party.
“When Obi could not secure the presidential ticket of the PDP, he quickly left the PDP to hurriedly join the Labour Party, where he emerged as the presidential flagbearer of the party in the February 25, 2023 general elections.
“If not for the Ikemba Nnewi, the APGA governorship candidate in the 2003 election would not have become the governor of Anambra State.
“Recall that Dr. Chris Ngige of the PDP was declared winner in the said April 2003 Anambra State governorship poll before Dim Ojukwu waded in.”
BIM-MASSOB expressed disappointment that Obi did not acknowledge Ojukwu’s assistance in regaining his mandate through the legal process.
“Peter Obi didn’t know about this deal, but every time during his media interactive sessions, he always said he didn’t spend any money to retrieve what he described as his ‘stolen’ mandate through the court process.
“Yes, Peter Obi didn’t spend money because Ojukwu and Ralph Uwazuruike didn’t ask him to bring money. For one to become governor or President, certain things ought to be done that Peter Obi didn’t do; instead, he was engaged in consultation with the northern Emirs and Yoruba Obas.”
Furthermore, the Biafra organization underscored the association between Ralph Uwazuruike and Okorocha, noting that Uwazuruike’s support had aided Okorocha in achieving his gubernatorial ambitions under the APGA platform in 2011.
“It was also Ralph Uwazuruike who made Chief Rochas Okorocha actualise his gubernatorial ambition in 2011 on the platform of APGA. Our members supported Okorocha hoping he was a true Igbo son, and as a philanthropist could deliver the needed democracy dividends to the Imolites.”
BIM-MASSOB expressed regret that despite their support, Okorocha moved away from APGA after attaining his political goals.
