The Biafra struggle has received a boost as the Niger Delta Volunteer Force (NDVF) led by Alhaji Asari Dokubo, joined forces with the Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) to actualise the dream.
Alhaji Dokubo announced the new alliance at the weekend during the Biafra Day celebration, organised by the leader of MASSOB, Chief Ralph Uwazuruike, at the Ojukwu Memorial Library and Conference in Owerri, which was attended by thousands of members of the two groups.
Dokubo and Uwazuruike assured their members at the ceremony that the actualisation of Biafra was near.
Alhaji Dokubo, who addressed the large crowd, said the South-South and the South-East no longer had Niger Delta or Igbo, but Biafra.
He assured MASSOB members that they would soon realise their dream for an independent state.
“We will soon complete the race. There is no need for you to be fatigued; the finishing line is not very far again. No power can stop our independence, our freedom is near,” he said, as the crowd went into wild jubilation.
He cautioned the new government of General Muhammadu Buhari on any attempt to arrest any freedom fighter in the country.
He advised the new President to rather, concentrate on his election promises, saying that very soon, they would rise up to hold him accountable to his words.
Dokubo recalled that three Ijaw kings went on exile because of Biafra with two of them dying there, stressing that the Niger Delta people and the Igbo had been brothers right from time.
Uwazuruike, who spoke earlier, said this year’s Biafra Day was significant as Dokubo came to join force with him in the Biafra struggle.
“Asari Dokubo has been here since two days because of this occasion,” he said, pointing out that before he formed MASSOB in 1999, he had gone to the Niger Delta region to solicit their support.
The MASSOB leader said: “Biafra is now assured as we have the support of the Niger Delta people.”