By GEORGE ONYEJIUWA, Owerri
Following the fracas between Chief Ralph Uwazuruike’s supporters and some dissatisfied members of the Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB), in which two persons died, the Imo State Police Command has summoned the group’s leader to explain his role in the crisis.
The Police warned that the MASSOB leader would be declared wanted if he failed to honour its invitation.
Confirming the incident at a press briefing yesterday, the state Commissioner of Police, AbdulMajid Ali, said the police got a hint through an intelligence report and moved into the troubled area.
He stated that the police reliably gathered that the MASSOB leader had a misunderstanding with a faction of the organisation over, “money sharing” and invited a group from Onitsha in Anambra State, who are loyal to him, to dislodge the faction at Okwe, Onuimo, where the fracas occurred.
The Imo Police boss stated that Uwazuruike has been given 24 hours to report to the police to clarify the circumstances that led to the death of his members or be declared a wanted person in the state.
His words: “We received a report that Uwazuruike had a misunderstanding with a faction of his movement at Onuimo, over money sharing. He invited a group from Anambra to dislodge the ones at Onuimo resulting in the death of two of his members.
“He has been invited to clarify circumstances leading to the death of the two members and if he fails to report before the expiration of today, then we would have no other option but to declare him wanted.” However, the Police Commissioner disclosed that some arrests had been made in connection with the fracas.
Some members of MASSOB, who allegedly accused Uwazuruike of using the group to enrich himself at the detriment of the movement on Wednesday, had engaged some of his suspected loyalists in a fierce fight at the Freedom Headquarters of the group in Okwe, Onuimo Council Area of the state.
