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Leader of the Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB), Chief Ralph Uwazuruike and 280 members of the organisation were yesterday granted freedom by a Magistrates’ Court in Enugu after spending eight days in Prison.
The release of Uwazuruike and other MASSOB members followed the withdrawal of an application brought before the court by the prosecutor, Victor Emeribe.
Emeribe had prayed the court to withdraw the charges against the MASSOB members, just as the Magistrate, Dennis Ekoh, granted the request.
Uwazuruike and his supporters had arrested last week at the Hotel Presidential, Enugu, venue of an event organised by the Igbo Youth Movement to honour ex-Biafran Warlord, Dim Chukwuemeka Odimegwu Ojukwu.
They were subsequently arraigned before the magistrate court on alleged four-count charge on treasonable felony, breach of public peace, attempts to overthrow the governors of the South East and membership of an outlawed association.
Despite the oral application for bail by their lawyer, Mr. Chika Eze on the grounds that the offences preferred against his clients were bailable, the court insisted that it lacked the jurisdiction to entertain the case and subsequently ordered that the suspects be remanded in prison custody pending their bail by a competent court.
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