The plot of the drama surrounding the purported hijacking of a merchant ship identified as MT Leon Dias by suspected Niger Delta militants and Biafra agitators thickened yesterday when the leader of the Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB), Uchenna Madu, expressed displeasure at the action of the perpetrators, who are claiming to be demanding the release of detained Director of Radio Biafra, Nnamdi Kanu.
According to Madu, MASSOB’s method of agitation is peaceful and does not involve the hijacking of a ship or threatening to kill the foreign crew on-board it.
Recall that Brigadier General Rabe Abubakar, the Director of Defence Information, on Tuesday confirmed the Friday hijacking of the ship, stating that it was presently in the territorial waters of the Republic of Benin.
He said that the hijackers were not Niger Delta militants as believed but criminal elements who will be dealt with according to the law, adding that the Amnesty Programme had adequately taken care of the militants in the Niger Delta.
Reacting to the news of the hijacking, Madu said: “I am aware that a militant group sometime gave the Federal Government twenty one-day ultimatum to release Mr. Nnamdi Kanu, failing which they threatened that they will do what will surprise the Nigerian government. May be it is the group, I do not even remember their name but I heard or read about that threat.”
He added: “You know that a lot of groups are springing up from the old Eastern Region to agitate for the actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra and as far as they are fighting for Biafra, we cannot disown them, but they have their own style which I think the Federal Government of Nigeria understands easily. If you are not violent, they will not understand and they will ignore you. So, we support the group if that is what they have actually done.
“We in MASSOB are not involved in violence; that is why they do not take us seriously. They believe we are illiterate job seekers that are frustrated in life and decided to demand for Biafra. They think that our own is to demonstrate peacefully and they will shoot and kill us and go into jubilation that they have dealt with us, but now, they have seen their match. We support the people if they have actually done that.”
“Any method applied by any Biafra agitating group to ensure that the Federal Government of Nigeria respects its law and court orders is approved by MASSOB, but we in MASSOB have chosen the path of non-violence and we will maintain it until Biafra is achieved.”
A spokesman of the suspected hijackers identified as General Ben broke the news in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, over the weekend.