MASSOB Women Allege 'Killer Squad'

October 5, 2004 - (Daily Champion - Lagos) Women's wing of the Movement for Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) yesterday called for the immediate release of over 1,000 members of the organization languishing in police cells and prisons nationwide.

The women also alleged that a killer squad under a police inspector had been raised to eliminate more MASSOB members.

MASSOB women took the position in a statement issued in Onitsha and signed by the director of women affairs, Mrs. Patricia Okwareke.

She called on the United Nations (UN), the Commonwealth, African Union (AU), World Council of Churches (WCC), Amnesty International, Pope John Paul II and other world leaders to wade in and rescue Ndigbo from marginalisation in Nigeria.

Mrs. Okwaraeke said that it had become necessary for women to join in the call to alert the international community on the current campaign against Ndigbo.

The MASSOB women leader alleged that plans had been mapped out to eliminate Chief Ralph Uwazuruike, MASSOB leader, and others.

She blasted the National Council of State (NCS) for the mandate it gave the Federal Government to clamp down on MASSOB, saying the council had no known constitutional powers to take such action.

The woman-leader asserted that the Federal Government had failed Ndigbo, Ijaws, Ogonis and others, stating that they could not be fooled anymore.

"We as women in Biafra have resolved at the end of our national congress that we must continue with the agitation for the independent state of Biafra," Mrs. Okwareke said.

From:http://allafrica.com/stories/200410050822.html