The Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) on Monday fired a blistering rebuke at Prophet Elijah Ayodele, accusing the cleric of mounting a “systematic and calculated” campaign of insults and religious bigotry against the Igbo nation.
In a press statement signed by MASSOB leader Comrade Uchenna Madu, the group said Ayodele’s recent declaration that “the greatest challenges of Nigeria lies within the attitude and desperation of Igbo people in Nigeria” was both false and inflammatory.
MASSOB said the prophet’s claim — that the Igbo’s pursuit of political power and their aspiration to produce a future president of Nigeria is driven by “desperation” — was a deliberate attempt to demean and delegitimize the region’s political ambitions. The group condemned Ayodele’s further assertion that “Ndigbo are not called for the leadership of Nigeria which is divinely reserved for other ethnicities excluding Igbos.”
Describing the cleric’s remarks as “bigotritic” and politically motivated, MASSOB accused him of acting as a “sinking paid agent of political services,” comparing his conduct to that of other public critics. “You’re not different from Reno Omokri,” the statement said.
MASSOB’s statement warned that Ayodele’s “religious bigotry and micro aggression with your hate speech against Ndigbo will always fall,” adding that his “selfish intolerance and manifested prejudice against the Igbo nation will hunt you down like your predecessors who engaged in futile war of calumny against Ndigbo.”
The group celebrated Igbo achievements, saying: “You are envious of Ndigbo because they are the glory of Nigeria.” It further lauded the region’s economic contributions, insisting that “the ingenuity of Ndigbo in trade and economic development of Nigeria and global recognition have become the bane of prophet Elijah Ayodele.”
Concluding the release, Comrade Madu reiterated MASSOB’s condemnation and called on Nigerians to reject any rhetoric that seeks to stoke ethnic or religious divisions.
