LIVE AND TIMES OF PRINCE LONGINUS CHIGAEMEZU ORJIAKOH; THE FATHER OF MODERN BIAFRAN STRUGGLE----EASTERN PILOT REPORT Prince Longinus Orjiakoh was among the pioneers of the Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra, MASSOB - A group that came into existence on 13th September, 1999 as a result of the lopsided and fractionalised election of 1999 which showcased the old eastern region and Igbo in particular as a pariah ethnic nationality in the Nigerian federation. Orjiakoh was appointed the Eastern co-ordinator of Massob, i.e de-facto Deputy to the Massob leader, Chief Ralph Uwazuruike. He went into action immediately by coming down home to the east to mobilize, sensitize and coordinate the populace to gear up towards a Biafra resurgimento, using Aba as his base. Galvanizing the former Biafra enclave with the re-declaration of the state of Biafra on May 22, 2000 at 175 Faulks (re-christened freedom square), Aba, Abia state. The declaration speech which Orjiakoh wrote was what the Massob leader, Chief Ralph Uwazuruike read on the occasion of the re-declaration of Biafra which was witnessed by over 20,000 people who were glad to once again behold the Biafran flag that was hoisted on that day. Prince, as he was fondly called by comrades and admirers, traversed the length and breadth of old eastern region, meeting with both the intelligentia class and common citizens to inundate them on the need for the demand of the state of Biafra. Among his many reasons were for Biafrans to rule themselves like men and develop at their own pace without let or hindrance, and be counted among the comity of developed nations. Ojiakoh though a very peaceful and principled man, abhors injustice and intimidation, hence his ideal for a state of Biafra was neither non-violence nor violent approach, but by any means possible; since the approach to any struggle is determined by the forces at play at the time. Prince Ojiakoh with then Massob leader, Chief Uwazuruike and the legal adviser Bar. Uche Okwukwe left Biafraland in April 2001 to the United States of America to confer and mobilize Biafrans in the diaspora and also to canverse for the support of the international community. On arrival from the U.S trip Prince Orjiakoh began setting up structures that will take the struggle to a higher level; setting up Security Outfits, Biafra Union of Newspaper Publishers, Biafra Directorate of Science and Technology, Artisans Association of Biafra, Market Women in Biafra , Football Federation of Biafra- which gave birth to Biafra senior football team, The Leopards and U-21 team, Hurricane, among several others. Prince Orjiakoh and Uwazuruike with Bar. Okwukwu left the Biafra shores again in September 2001 to America, where they joined the erstwhile Biafra generalissimo, Dim Ojukwu to open the Biafra House in Washington D.C. on 29 September, 2001. At the Biafra House in U.S.A., Orjiakoh while empathizing and sympathizing with the Americans over the World Trade Centre attack by terrorists, during a press briefing, reminded the U.S Government and her citizens to measure the trauma being experienced by Biafrans in the hands of Nigeria since the amalgamation of 1914 with what they are passing through for only a day loss. It was partially that trip to U.S that put a crack in the cohesive and vibrant Massob leadership. It was at that stage that Uwazuruike felt his position was threatened by the sagacity and revolutionary intelligence of Orjiakoh, who by then had started questioning the workability of non –violence of the Massob idealogy. Back home, Uwazuruike withheld Orjiakoh’s international passport on arrival at Lagos airport. Massob simmering problems came to the fore between middle of October and stretched to November 10, 2001, when every activity of the once gigantic edifice called Massob collapsed and became comatose; a treachery of Uwazuruike and then Governor of Abia state, Orji Uzor Kalu, with the aid and tacit support given to Bakassi Boys to attack maim, kill and dislode every Massob element in Abia - the bullet proof and engine room of the nascent Biafra resurgenito. It was at that stage that Prince Orjiakoh left Aba and went into self- imposed exile first in Lome, Togo and later in Port Harcourt, Rivers state. Within this period, several peace efforts and emissaries were sent to Uwazuruike through Dim Ojukwu and few Ohanaeze chieftains then, to reconcile the rifts in Massob. But all efforts proved abortive as Uwazuruike remained adamant to all entreaties while Orjiakoh on his part agreed to reconciliation but with a clause on the review of the non- violence approach of Uwazuruike which he posited exposed Masobians to unwarranted attacks and death in the hands of Nigerian security agencies and individuals. As the logjam continued, Dim Ojukwu advised Orjiakoh and his hordes of determined followers and officers to wit; form a parallel organization if you can and follow your own ideology. That singular statement from Ojukwu, snowballed to the birth of Eastern Peoples Congress (EPC), with its motto as: One East, One Destiny. This was in June, 2002. That was the genesis of Massob woes as the most ardent, courageous, intelligent and committed bulk of its membership pulled out with Prince Orjiakoh. To announce their arrival, EPC, held a Biafra Conference in Aba on 12th December 2003.The conference was disrupted by the Nigeria police while 7 of EPC members arrested and detained. Before then, the group had played a significant role during the burial of Mazi Victor Nwankwo, younger brother to Dr. Arthur Nwankwo in 2003. In 2004, Prince Orjiakohs EPC sent a detailed document of the woes and injustices meted out on Biafrans in the Nigerian federation to the United Nations at Geneva through one of its (UN) organs; Society for Threatened Peoples. EPC followed it up with additional submissions in 2005 of accounts and documents on the necessity of a Biafra nation- a document he was asked to come and defend in the UN general assembly, but was denied access to a visa by the evil empire called Nigeria. While EPC was waxing stronger with their MC3 plan of action to actualise Biafra , the behemoth called Massob were reeling in internal crisis; forcing several pocket size groups to emerge with too many leaders, mainly from Massob National Working Committee. The final stroke came in 2007 after the likes of Chief Sam Ike, Samuel Edeson, Paschal Okorie, Nnamdi Ohiagu, Peter Ibesi, Dr. Nwachukwu, Rev. Sam Onuoha Rev. S.I Ajah, Rev Newman, Mac David, Madam Kate Rabbi Ben Okah, Friday Ogbonna, Madam Ejezie, Engr Ofoegbu, et al, too numerous to mention converged in Ubomiri near Owerri for a coalition with the already established Eastern Peoples Congress. After the talks, many who still habour the Massob mentality and indoctrination were weeded out and so came into existence of Biafra Liberation Council, BLC on 28th Februray 2008. BLC followed their coalition with series of programs. On 1st october, 2008 the group re-visited the Ahiara Declaration with an International Press Conference at Okpofe in Ezinihite Mbaise. This was after a dedication service in Aba where BLC and the Biafra project was handed over to Obasi-di-N’elu, Amama-amasi-amasi, for guidance, counselling and protection . Immediately after the Ahara Declaration re-visit, BLC sent a Biafra Charter of Demand to the Nigerian government through the then president Umaru Musa Yaradua, the Senate president, Speaker, House of Reps and the Attorney General of the Nigeria federation. Prince Orijiakoh as a seer, compelled BLC to send a strong worded letter to our people in the Northern part of Nigeria, warning them of impending doom from religious fundamentalists should they continue to sojourn in those hostile territories. The letter captioned, “Preparing for Exodus” were sent to our people in the Northern part of the failed Nigeria federation for a gradual and phased relocation from the north to a safer territory in the West or, East most appropriately. This was between July 2009 to May 2011. What a point blank prophecy, Boko Haram is now snuffing out the lives of our recalcitrant people in the north. In December of that same year, Prince Orjiakoh led a delegation of BLC leaders to the United Nation’s office in the West Coast of Africa, where a documentation of a Biafra Charter of Demand was tabled before the world body. Orjiakoh visited the UN office again in 2009,culminating it with another trip to Germany in 2010, for a world conference of threatened peoples all over the world. He was to visit Germany again this year for an International Press Conference on Biafra before the unfortunate accident that claimed his dogged life. It was to the credit of the Orjiakoh-led BLC that the Night of Songs and Tributes for the late Biafra sage, Dim Odumegwu Ojukwu held on 25th February 2012 in Owerri, Imo state recorded huge success. The occasion was organized by Igbo National Union, led by Bar. Uche Onyeagucha. Prince Orjiakoh’s live and times can’t be complete without mentioning his several brushes with the Nigerian security agencies. In June 20 2000, he and other 53 Massobians were arrested in Aba and charged with un-lawful gathering and treasonable felony . They were later clamped into Aba and Umuahia (ATM) prisons and were released after barely 3months in detention. Orjiakoh was guest to the Nigerian men in black again in October 2000 for 5hrs before he regained his liberty. He received gun shot wounds on May22, 2001, after an attack on him by the police at Okigwe road, Aba. In 2001 he played a hide and seek with the Bakassi Boys (a bounty script laid down on his head by Uwazuruike and Orji Uzor Kalu for his death). It lasted for over a year. In January 2005, Prince Orjiakoh was arrested in Cotonou, Benin Republic on a charge of being in possession of Biafra documents, and ferried back to Shangisha, SSS station in Lagos where he was detained for weeks before being left of the hook. He was also arrested at Onitsha in 2011, Umuahia 2007, and other minor arrests and detentions all over Nigeria . The arrest of Prince Orjiakoh in Porthcourt in 2002 by men of SARS will remain a watershed in his revolutionary struggles, but what transpired there in Porthcourt will still remain a mystery to his departed soul and a guide to his lieutenants. His death will remain a land mark to the Biafran struggle. With the several structures he left behind, his demise is surely going to trigger off chains of actions, reactions and activities that will herald the emergence of the State of Biafra. Hail Biafra! Adieu Prince of Biafra. Your Spirit Lives.
Posted on: Tue, 03 Dec 2013 07:05:34 +0000
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