Ralph Uwazuruike is a Nigerian activist. He is the leader of the
(MASSOB); a group canvassing for the secession and sovereignty of
Eastern Nigeria
The Eastern Region was an administrative region in Nigeria, dating back originally from the division of the colony Southern Nigeria in 1954. Its first capital was Calabar. The capital was later moved to Enugu and the second capital was Umuahia. T ...
. He holds degrees in Political Science from
Punjab University, India
Panjab University (PU) is a collegiate public state university located in Chandigarh, Punjab. Funded through both State and Union governments, it is considered a state university. It traces its origins to the University of the Punjab in ...
, and Law from Bombay University, India. Uwazuruike adopts the principle of
nonviolence
Nonviolence is the personal practice of not causing harm to others under any condition. It may come from the belief that hurting people, animals and/or the environment is unnecessary to achieve an outcome and it may refer to a general philosoph ...
as propagated by
Mahatma Gandhi
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (; ; 2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948), popularly known as Mahatma Gandhi, was an Indian lawyer, Anti-colonial nationalism, anti-colonial nationalist Quote: "... marks Gandhi as a hybrid cosmopolitan figure ...
and
Martin Luther King Jr.
Martin Luther King Jr. (born Michael King Jr.; January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968) was an American Baptist minister and activist, one of the most prominent leaders in the civil rights movement from 1955 until his assassination in 1968 ...
, as the philosophy of the struggle. He has been detained several times and charged with treason in Nigerian courts. On 28 April 2010, he was visited in prison by
Chukwuemeka Odimegwu Ojukwu
Chukwuemeka "Emeka" Odumegwu Ojukwu (4 November 1933 – 26 November 2011) was a Nigerian military officer, statesman and politician who served as the military governor of the Eastern Region of Nigeria in 1966 and the president of the sece ...
and his wife,
Bianca
Bianca is a feminine given name. It means "white" and is an Italian cognate of Blanche.
Variants
* Blanche: French
* Bianca: Italian
* Bianka (Polish, Hungarian, Slovak, German, English, French, Icelandic, Finnish, Dutch, Norwegian, ...
.
Following Ojukwu's death in 2011, Uwazuruike was named his successor and crowned 'Ezeigbo'. He has since embarked on several regional projects including the erection of a library in honour of Ojukwu and building residential houses for displaced
Biafran War
The Nigerian Civil War (6 July 1967 – 15 January 1970), also known as the Nigerian–Biafran War or the Biafran War, was a civil war fought between Nigeria and the Republic of Biafra, a secessionist state which had declared its independence f ...
veterans.
Uwazuruike condemns the killing of
Igbos
The Igbo people ( , ; also spelled Ibo" and formerly also ''Iboe'', ''Ebo'', ''Eboe'',
*
*
* ''Eboans'', ''Heebo'';
natively ) are an ethnic group in Nigeria. They are primarily found in Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu, and Imo States. A s ...
in northern states of the country by the
Boko Haram
Boko Haram, officially known as ''Jamā'at Ahl as-Sunnah lid-Da'wah wa'l-Jihād'' ( ar, جماعة أهل السنة للدعوة والجهاد, lit=Group of the People of Sunnah for Dawah and Jihad), is an Islamic terrorist organization ba ...
group and continually calls on Igbos to return home in order to avoid the massacre.
Early life and education
Ralph Uwazuruike was born in Okwe, Imo State. Having experienced the horror of the Biafran war as a kid, Uwazuruike nursed hopes of resuscitating the defunct republic albeit through peaceful means. He was particularly enthralled, in his school days, by books on Mahatma Gandhi which influenced his decision to study in India. Uwazuruike studied Political Science at Panjab University, and then Law at Bombay University, India, after which he enrolled at the
Nigerian Law School
The Nigerian Law School is an educational institution set up by the Government of Nigeria in 1962 to provide a Nigerian legal education to foreign-trained lawyers, and to provide practical training for aspiring Legal Practitioners in Nigeria. ...
. He was called to the Nigerian Bar in 1991.
MASSOB
Uwazuruike founded MASSOB in 1999, in the aftermath of the Nigerian elections that produced President Olusegun Obasanjo. The group kicked off at Uwazuruike's Temple of Peace residence in Lagos and recorded a high rise in membership in its first few weeks.
Legal issues
Irked by MASSOB's growing popularity, the Nigerian government began clampdowns on the group. Uwazuruike was arrested on several occasions on charges of unlawful gathering and disturbance of public peace. He was often eventually released within a few weeks. On one occasion, he was arrested in Lome, Togo, for storming the 36th Organisation of African Unity (OAU) Summit which had in attendance several African Heads-of-State.
Uwazuruike's longest spell in detention was to come in 2005 when he was arrested in his Okwe hometown by men of the Nigerian Police. He alleges to have been flown to Abuja aboard a private jet and remanded in an underground SSS facility. He remained in prison detention for two years after a protracted bail hearing at the Federal High Court, Abuja. Justice Binta Nyako eventually granted him three-month bail to enable him bury his mother who had died during his incarceration.
In 2011, Uwazuruike and 280 MASSOB members were arrested in Enugu at an event in honour of Ojukwu. He was released on orders of Nigerian President,
Goodluck Jonathan
Goodluck Ebele Azikiwe Jonathan (born 20 November 1957)Lawson Heyford, ''The Source'' (Lagos), 11 December 2006. is a Nigerian politician who served as the President of Nigeria from 2010 to 2015. He lost the 2015 presidential election to f ...
.
In 2005 Uwazuruike was charged with treason at the Federal High Court, Abuja, before Justice Binta Nyako. The then Attorney-General of the Federation, Bayo Ojo, SAN, appeared in person for the government while Mike Ahamba, SAN, represented the defendant before being replaced by Festus Keyamo. The case however did not proceed to the trial stage as the first two years were spent hearing Uwazuruike's bail application. He was finally granted bail in November 2007. In April 2013, the Supreme Court held that the trial could commence after rejecting contrary submissions by Festus Keyamo.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Uwazuruike, Ralph
Year of birth missing (living people)
Living people
People of Biafra
20th-century Nigerian lawyers