Radio Biafra stunned its audience on Tuesday when the new leader of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, Ezenachukwu Okwudili, went on air to reveal the whereabouts of the fugitive leader, Nnamdi Kanu.

In a 6am broadcast monitored in Abuja on the London-based shortwave radio station, Mr Okwudili said: “Those who benefited from inciting young Igbo youth to violence and death, the time of reckoning has come.

“We are putting an end to blood-shed while continuing with our struggle. Kanu has fled to London using his British passport and he is hiding after our successful takeover of the Radio and IPOB Leadership.

“Those who live by the sword know the final judgment, therefore people like Uche Mefor and his brother Mr Law Mefor along with Emma Powerful, should know that like the Robert Mugabe era, the Nnamdi Kanu era has come to an end. The time when rabble-rousers loot IPOB treasury, share it with their family and friends has come and gone”.

The radio broadcast in particular alleged that Law Mefor, the brother of Uche Mefor (Mr Kanu’s former deputy) was collecting money from Igbo traders and businessmen as treasurer of IPOB and converting it to personal use.

“Money collected so far is in excess of 300 million Naira and we are still counting as information about contributors continue to trickle in”.

The radio station, in a disclaimer announcement, also dismissed them and asked the public “not to have any monetary dealings with them on matters pertaining to IPOB, an ideologically focused, democratic, accountable, and truly non-violent organization”.

The broadcast made in both Igbo and English ended by inviting both members and the general public to tune Radio Biafra every morning on “7240 KHZ, 41 meter-band, short wave and at 9 PM on 11530 KHZ on 25 meter band.

Source: abusidiqu.com

The international media arm of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Radio Biafra, has resumed operations.

But instead of the fiery rhetoric with which it was associated with, the radio announced the sack of Nnamdi Kanu, as director and leader of IPOB.

The Radio Biafra’s programme started between 6am -7am on Sunday with the lady announcer, who gave her name as Ifeoma Okorafor, stating that the radio was restructuring.

Then the shocking announcement that “Mazi Nnamdi Nwanekaenyi Kanu, the former Director of Radio Biafra is hereby dismissed and removed as Director of Radio Biafra following extensive and intensive consultations”

According to Okorafor, one “Mazi Ezenwachukwu Sampson Okwudili is Kanu’s replacement.”

She reeled out reasons why Kanu was removed to include: “Personalisation of the Biafran struggle and derailing from the core objectives of IPOB as a grassroots movement.

“Kanu’s actions and his decisions to incite members of IPOB towards violence leading to the death of many innocent young people in Onitsha, Aba and Umuahia is totally unacceptable and grossly irresponsible.

“Kanu privately collected £14 million and another $22 million to purchase landed properties abroad in his name and that of his father, Igwe Israel Kanu, in a clear case of ‘monkey dey work baboon dey chop’.

“Kanu turned our collective struggle into a money-making enterprise for himself and his father. Thus the monies contributed by enterprising and hard-working Igbo youths across the world are being collected and converted by one man and his father while pretending to be sacrificing for the cause.

“Upon his release from detention in April 2017, one expected Kanu to drum up support for the release of his colleagues and co-detainees such as Chidiebere Onwudiwe, Benjamin Madubugwu and David Nwawuisi. These are our brothers who were arrested at the same time with him and they should not be forgotten. We hereby demand their release. Kanu, since his release, has never spoken about them or appealed for the release of these our freedom fighters. Instead, he has been going about collecting chieftaincy titles and having a messianic swagger that even allowed full-blooded Igbo men to kneel down and kiss his feet.

“Kanu threw away the original meaning of our collective struggle for personal gain and vain glorification. IPOB believes in democracy as a solid base of any modern state, the rule of law, and will always reject violence in all its ramifications.”

Daily Independent Newspaper reports that there was a mixture of excitement and confusion within Nigeria security circles as a result of this new development in IPOB as security agencies do not know what to make of this.

The sack of Kanu is only the latest change in the checkered history of Radio Biafra, which began as the mouthpiece of MASSOB.

Source: DailyPost

The Nigerian government has linked the 2,671 pump action rifles illegally imported from Turkey to the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, Mr. Nnamdi Kanu.

The riffles were intercepted by the Nigeria Customs Service  on four different occasions in 2017.

In a counter-affidavit filed by the Office of the Attorney General of the Federation and which was deposed to by a litigation officer in the Department of State Services, Mr. Ayuba Adam, it drew a link between the Turkish citizen’s visit to Kanu and the arms smuggled into Nigeria, the counter-affidavit added that the NCS had intercepted 2,671 rifles smuggled from Turkey in 2017 alone.

The counter-affidavit read in part, “That a Turkish citizen, Abdulkadir Erkahraman, visited Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of the respondent/applicant in Isiama Afara, Umuahia, Abia State sometimes in July 2017, and has been canvassing support for the secessionist agenda of the respondent/applicant. He also admonished Biafrans to rise up and fight a good fight for freedom.’

“That the Nigeria Customs Service had on four occasions this year intercepted pump action rifles totalling 2,671 illegally imported into the country. Copies of the report on arms smuggling is attached herewith and marked as Exhibit FGN 2A and 2B.”

Recall that the Acting Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, Justice Abdu Kafarati, had on September 20, 2017, made an order proscribing IPOB and designating it as a terrorist group upon an ex parte application by the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Abubakar Malami (SAN).

The AGF office subsequently filed a counter-affidavit justifying the proscription order of the court.

Justice Kafarati heard the two parties on Tuesday after which he adjourned until January 17 for ruling on whether or not the proscription of IPOB should be proscribed.

Source: New Telegraph

Today is 22 years since the Nigerian state killed Ken Saro-Wiwa on the allegation of murder of Ogoni Chiefs. Ken Saro-Wiwa was tried alongside other Ogoni leaders and citizens, including Mr. Ledum Mittee for allegedly instigating and killing their brothers. The death of those Ogoni chiefs was an unfortunate and unexpected turn of event, occasioned by intolerable disagreement on the strategies for the emancipation of Ogoni people.

This could be a case of what behavioral scholars call ‘predictable surprise’. With ‘hindsight bias’, one could say that the level of venom and angst in this strategic contention would definitely lead to epic tragedy. But, in the thrills of self-determination, no one would have expected the gruesome killing of those who disagreed.

Ken Saro-Wiwa was tried by a special military tribunal headed by the immediate Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, Justice Ibrahim Auta, who was then a junior judge of the Federal High Court, Lagos. Other members of the tribunal were Col Ali, former Military Governor and now Comptroller General of Customs, and a senior judge from Cross River State whose name I can’t easily recollect. The trial was my closest and most insightful encounter with the Nigerian state.

I was a young lawyer, barely two years from the Law School, when Ken’s lawyer and my principal, Gani Fawehinmi, drafted me as co-counsel in the trial. The trial became a ruse to put away a very costly irritation to the Nigerian state. As one of the tribunal members explained to us, it was a strategic mistake that the Nigerian state did not deal ruthlessly with the Ogoni ‘insolence and provocation’ long ago. In his view, Abacha should have exterminated this irritation. But, nevertheless, General Abacha got around doing what a ruthless state gets to do: brutally put off the agitation.

The ‘persecution’ of the Ogoni leaders was expected but the execution of Ken Saro-Wiwa and the other accused persons-minus Mittee- was a real surprise. Both Ken Saro-wiwa and Gani Fawehinmi knew the trial was a sham. As I explained to the Newsweek magazine, the Auta tribunal was a ‘hangman’s court’.

In fact, Ken Saro-wiwa, realizing that the trial was a predetermined extermination of the dangerous Ogoni agitation, counseled Gani Fawehinmi not to put up a defence on his behalf. In Ken’s view, the Nigerian state wanted to kill him after a sham trial whose only redemption would be that such high caliber lawyers represented him. Gani, understood that this Auta Tribunal was a ‘hangman’s court but countered that we needed to push the Tribunal to serial errors to discredit the trial. Thereafter, we would back down.

The defence strategy was delivered up to the hilt. We so exposed the tribunal’s bias and partiality that the envoy of the Law Society and the Bar Council in the UK wrote a damning report of the trail. The Report resulted in worldwide denunciation of the trial. But we missed an important point. Ken had asked me whether I thought Abacha would execute him after conviction and sentence (we knew that Auta and co would convict and sentence Ken and his comrades to death).

I painted scenarios and predicted that how Abacha would treat General Obasanjo and Yaradua, two eminent leaders he had convicted for coup plotting in another Kangaroo military tribunal, would determine his treatment of Ken & co. in my flawed thinking, I believed that if Abacha listened to international outcry and reduced the death sentence on Obasanjo and Yaradua to prison terms then we should be sure he would put Ken into prison and not to the gallows. Then, perhaps, Ken’s dream Nobel Prize could be on the way.

But we failed woefully. I did not reckon that the Ogoni struggle is a different kettle of fish. To the grand commanders of this unfair republic to challenge the unity of Nigeria (a euphemism for challenging the neo-feudal foundations of the Nigerian state) is the unpardonable sin. A coup plotter is pardonable. But the one who puts his hands against the Lugardian knots pays dearly. Ken Saro-wiwa paid the price for raising his voice in the manner in which Adaka Boro and the Biafran soldiers did. It is a legendary irony that Ken Saro-wiwa thoroughly deprecated Ojukwu and his comrades for foolishly rushing to self-determination instead of parleying with the Nigerian state that was already murdering Igbos.

He even called ‘Ojukwu ‘inglorious braggart’, and queried the wisdom of the Igbo struggle. He was not alone in this put-down of the Biafra insurrection. Prof Ali Mazrui seriously lampooned the poet, Chris Okigbo, for abandoning poetry and taking up arms to defend Biafra. I confronted Ken with this irony while he was in prison and he gave me a copy of his ‘On a Darkling Plain’ to debunk allegation of Igbo hatred. Obviously, he did not hate the Igbos. Like most of us he simply failed to see the body in the corpse until death hit home.

About 25 years after the Biafra revolt, Ken inspired a powerful Ogoni rebellion. About 22 years after the Ogoni rebellion was fiercely exterminated, the Nigerian army moved again to the east to quell another insurrection against the Nigerian state. The Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB) hoisted another flag of a separatist enclave (don’t forget that MOSSOP had Ogoni flag and Anthem). A young man, Nnamdi Kanu, who, like Ken Saro-Wiwa, is privileged with good education and quality of life, swore that he wanted either Biafra or death. Nnamdi Kanu thinks that his Igbo people are being enslaved in Nigeria.

Ken thought Nigeria turned Ogonis into hewers of woods and fetchers of water. Kanu believes that the problem of his Igbo people is that they are enslaved by the Fulani caliphate. Ken believed that the Nigerian military-business complex was imprisoning Ogoni people. Both of them wanted some kind of out.

The pacification of Ogoni was brutal and unfair. In the guise of restoring peace to a troubled land and bringing murderers to justice the Nigerian state brutalized Ogoni and dismantled one of the most vehement and revolutionary political agitations in Nigeria. In his written address to the tribunal Ken Saro-wiwa warned that if Nigeria rebuffed his peaceful agitation for environmental justice and political self-determination, it would contend with violent challenge to its iniquitous order. But Nigeria was not in the mood for reason. And as predicted, the Ijaws took over from where the Ogoni left. Militants swarmed the Niger Delta and forever changed Nigerian politics.

After Ken’s execution, a Nigerian journalist, Adewale Adeoye, and myself decided to publish a book on the Ogoni trial and the political future of Nigeria. In chapter 6 of the proposed book I argued that the future of Nigeria after Ken Saro-wiwa requires a rethinking of the federal system of government. I argued that until we reconceive the Nigerian state on the line of democratic citizenship, without subjecting the state to ethnic and religious competition and dominance, we could lose the nation. In mimicry of the fabled but failed nation-building project in Nigeria, we abandoned the book project. That was over a decade before the present feverish clamor of restructuring and the thunderous chant-down of ‘Nigerian unity is non-negotiable’.

Presumably, we have neatly dispatched off Nnamdi Kanu and his noisome pestilence through the ‘Operation Python Dance’, just the way we extirpated the Ogoni struggle through the Rivers State Internal Security Committee of dreaded Col Okuntimo. The clamor of the Biafran agitators has been drowned in the cacophony of bullets and martial law. We have cured the disease but multiplied the virus. As we ruthlessly fall down those who stand up to question the political fundaments of the Nigerian state and refuse to deal with the issues they raise, we continue to weaken the foundations of Nigeria’s sustainability.

The union grows weaker and weaker after each successful expedition. The Nigerian unity is more threatened today than in 1995 when Ken Saro-wiwa and his colleagues were hanged for asking inconvenient questions. Yes, we dealt with them neatly but we did not answer their queries. 22 years after we are still dealing ruthlessly with, perhaps, a much more inconvenient and insolent query: the new Biafra self-determination movement. It is now time to stop bolstering and bluffing, sit down and ask really difficult question: why does the nation has to be severely threatened every other decade? We can’t we secure the nation on something stronger than individual and group aggrandizement? Can’t we form a less imperfect union?

Dr Sam Amadi, former chairman and chief executive of Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), was a defence counsel to Ken Saro-Wiwa and other Ogoni leaders at the trial

Source: The Cable

The Commissioner of Police in Abia State, Anthony Ogbizi, has said that lethal weapons, including petrol bombs and one double-barrel gun, were recovered during last Sunday’s raid of the residence of the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu.

Mr. Ogbizi said this on Thursday during an interaction with newsmen in Umuahia, adding that the items were recovered during a joint operation by security personnel in the state.

He said that the petrol bombs were found in buckets and incriminating documents and letters, concerning IPOB’s activities and plans, were also recovered during the raid.

He said that the raid was carried out based on an intelligence report, regarding the continued activities of some members of the group.

“We recovered many of Biafra’s insignia, staff of office and some of those items are being analysed,” Mr. Ogbizi said.

The police boss said that the operation also led to the arrest of one suspected member of IPOB.

He said that the team also discovered the telephone numbers of the group’s zonal coordinators, adding that all the communications between the leadership of the group and their collaborators would be thoroughly analysed.

Mr. Ogbizi said that a Biafran flag was also found hanging on a telecommunications mast in the area.

According to him, the police will ask the Nigeria Communications Commission to sanction any telecommunication company that allowed its mast to be used to hoist Biafran flags.

He said that the activities of IPOB in the Southeast were “stirring insurrection” and that security agencies would not fold their arms and watch the group foment violence in the country.

He said that members of the group allegedly set a police station and van ablaze in Aba, and also attacked a military patrol team in Umuahia.

The police chief said that similar joint operations would be carried out intermittently in Kanu’s residence, anytime they received intelligence report that offensive weapons were brought to the place.

He said that it was wrong to say that the military was taking over the duties of the police rather the action should be seen as a synergy between the two organisations to check security challenges.

Mr. Ogbizi said that he would not hesitate to invite the army anytime the security situation in the state grew beyond the capacity of the police.

Source: premiumtimesng.com

The Nigerian Army has again raided the Abia home of the  Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra.

According to Kanu's younger brother, Prince Emmanuel Kanu, the soldiers invaded the house on Sunday, October 8, claiming they were searching for 'technical items.'

He said the army personnel eventually left the house with television sets, generator and clothes.

Prince Emmanuel called on the international community urge the Nigerian army to stop the indiscriminate invasion of his brother's house and to disclose his whereabouts.

The desk officer of the military Operation Python Dance in Abia State confirmed the raid.

The officer, who did not give his name, said the raid was carried out following a fresh intelligence report suggesting that arms were hidden in the house.

But he denied Kanu's younger brother's claim that the soldiers took away household appliances.

"The things removed may be technical items…Somebody was arrested with weapon in the compound."

The military officer added that the operation was carried out by a joint team of the army and other security agencies.

Source: pulse.ng

Legal practitioners, under the aegis of Lawyers of Conscience (LAWCONS) have called for the immediate arrest of Ifeanyi Ejiofor, the lawyer to IPOB leader, Nnamdi Kanu and other persons working for the outlawed Indigenous People of Biafra.

The group said it was an insult on the side of the Nigerian government that the now labeled-terrorist group, IPOB led by Kanu could have the mind to file a suit before the Federal High Court in Abuja praying for an order directing the Chief of Army Staff, Lt.-Gen. Tukur Buratai, to produce its leader in court.

LAWCONS said it was worried that law enforcement agencies were yet to act on the order of the Federal High Court in Abuja that designated IPOB as a terrorist organization.

Babatunde Oladimeji, President, while speaking at a press conference in Abuja on Tuesday, noted that Ejiofor was only out to complicate the issues by claiming that the military was in custody of his client and not in London as widely reported.

Oladimeji said, “Knowing that he had grossly violated his bail conditions for his treason trial, Kanu had deliberately instigated his followers to attack troops on Operation Python Dance II drills to claim attacks on his person when they acted to defend themselves.
“In the wake of the incident of September 14 when Ifeanyi said he last saw his client, Kanu was on telephone live with a broadcast station, in which he condemned the military for repelling his fighters. IPOB spokesman, Emma Powerful, had categorically declared that they ferried the terrorist leader to safety.

“Emma Powerful specifically stated in the statement on September 18 2017 (four days after the dates referenced by his lawyer) that “Our leader Mazi Nnamdi Kanu has made it abundantly clear to all and sundry that he is NOT going on exile as a result of these childish threats from Hausa Fulani dominated Nigeria Government.”

He further said “Major General Muhammadu Buhari and his APC band of thugs should be the ones hiding from IPOB not us from them. It is unfortunate that some people in Arewa North do not know who Mazi Nnamdi Kanu is hence they keep coming up with laughable fabrications designed to demystify our leader, to no avail.”
“Once the court declared Kanu’s group a terrorist organisation after making these boasts, he realized for the first time the enormity of his transgressions and he fled further. He first ran to Bayelsa State with his parents and from there he escaped through Nigeria’s border with Cameroon. We all know Cameroon’s connection with France and the role France is reportedly playing in financing and supporting IPoB.

“Ifeanyi Ejiofor however contacted other members of IPoB and assured them that Operation Python Dance II is a good cover for Nnamdi Kanu to evade being returned to detention for breaching his bail conditions. He instructed the terror group’s propagandist, Emma Powerful, AKA Prince Emmanuel Kanu, the IPoB leader’s brother to change his earlier press statement and begin claiming that Kanu’s whereabouts are unknown as the military might have killed or arrested him.

“Even if Kanu can successfully remain in a cowardly hiding past the October 17 date when he is due in court, he would of necessity have to resurface, at which point the entire IPoB group would have been exposed as a pack of terrorist lies that it is. The scenario nonetheless sets a bad precedence that must be nipped in the bud immediately.”

The group therefore demanded that security agencies should without delay arrest Ifeanyi Ejiofor for belonging to a terror organization contrary to the laws of Nigeria.

He added, “It amounts to contempt of court for security agencies to not act in accordance with the court order that designated IPoB a terrorist organization. It sets a bad precedent and it is a matter of time before some Boko Haram terrorists would come up with their own suit asking the Federal Government to grant their leader, Abubakar Shekau, freedom of movement.

“The military and the other security agencies must not play with our intelligence as peace loving Nigerians are not ignorant of international provisions that allows for the activation of red alert for high profile terrorists. They should therefore approach Interpol to assist in fishing Nnamdi Kanu out from Cameroon, France or any other country he might have fled to.”

Source: www.lawyard.ng

In Igboland, there is a saying that ‘‘what you do not know is bigger than you, just as it will continue to be beyond you until you experience it practically". This adage perfectly describes the combative strategy of IPOB and the Operation Python Dance set up by the Nigerian military to contain the activities and excesses of the agitating group which has been classified as a terrorist organisation by the Federal Government and proscribed by South East Governors. Investigation into the membership of IPOB shows that most of the young people, including its leader, Nnamdi Kanu, who parade themselves as agitators spoiling for war were not born before or during the Nigerian civil war which lasted from 1967 to 1970. They have never experienced any war. The implication of this is that war or violence, to them, is like a fairy tale or what is seen in American movies. They still believe that stones, dane guns and wooden clubs are the best arms and armament to prosecute a war. Even if they know about military equipment, do they have the funds or sponsors to help them procure them?

The situation is made worse because the teaching of history has been expunged from the curriculum of Nigerian schools and most of the characters involved in IPOB have not bothered to read about Nigeria’s civil war, why and how it started, how it was won and lost and its impact on both Biafra, the Federal troops and Nigeria as a country. Suffice it to say that this was the same experience that led to the death of promising undergraduates of Igbo extraction in 1967 when Nigeria’s civil war commenced. They came out in their numbers in same manner and fashion as undergraduates from University of Nigeria, Nsukka to face federal troops with machetes, stones and wooden clubs not knowing what bullets in a single gun could do to tens of them. The result was the massive mowing down of the young men with the talents inherent in them. Fifty years after the war, its scars are still visible in homes, families and villages in the South East. Analyzing its support base, it has been observed that rational Igbos, including those from same village with IPOB leader, who experienced the civil war are not in favour of the push by the group which believes that war or secession is the solution for the marginalisation of the Igbos. They do not believe in dialogue which was the counsel of the Great Nnamdi Azikiwe of Africa to the then young Col. Emeka Odimegwu Ojukwu as a better way to handle agitations before the break out of the civil war.

When the jungle of the civil war matured and Ojukwu realised that it had turned out to be a suicide mission, he had to seek the intervention of the Great Zik to find a soft landing for Biafra. After several negotiations that did not produce desired results, the old man had to leave for London for his safety. It was a matter of time before Ojukwu fled. At that time the push had come to shove. But then, those who did not have anywhere to run to, and those who had places to run to, but did not have the means to do so, resigned to fate to either survive the war or pay the supreme prize.

The war left in its wake colossal damage to property, just as thousands of lives were lost. It will be recalled that before his demise, Ojukwu described the war as a mistake and that such incident should not happen again. According to him, if Nigeria finds itself in another civil war, it means the people who died between 1967 and 1970 died in vain. NTA still plays the recording up till today.

By and large, history has a way of repeating itself in the sense that it took a show of force by the Nigerian army driving and brandishing military vehicles and armoured tanks in Nnamdi Kanu’s village in Umuahia, Abia State, for him to be silenced. This is an indication that the man was not prepared for the action he has been propagating and the threats he had been making. If he was really ready to die for the course as he claims why did he go into hiding since the military show of force happened.

It should also not be forgotten that a chunk of his followers have paid the supreme prize during confrontations with security agencies at different times. This is unlike Ojukwu who stayed and fought till almost the end of the civil war before fleeing. The situation on hand now is that Kanu is no-where to be found even when the real deal as he speculated has not started. The general impression is that the captain has abandoned his ship and that the leadership of IPOB is now in question. The lesson for the Federal Government on the experience of Python Dance is that security agencies should do everything possible to stop whoever and whatever that would lead to further bloodshed in any part of the country since military show of force has had maximum impact. Further interventions should also be done more professionally, since it has become obvious that agitators have not acquired weapons.  Since the military in the South East zone now aims at reducing criminal activities which include kidnappings, Operation Python Dance should ensure that the rights, privileges, value , due respect and protection of lives and properties of citizens/residents of the zone are not undermined in any way.

It has become obvious that God Almighty in his infinite mercy brought many tribes and races together to form one nation. It therefore behoves that the virtues of mutual respect and not mutual suspicion should be the order of the day. Dialogue and not violence should be embraced as a means of seeking solution to national challenges. After all, it still takes round table discussions to end a war even though the difference is that so much destruction would have taken before such meetings are convened.

From the foregoing, it has become imperative to reintroduce History as a subject in Nigerian schools so that young people will be thought about the Nigerian civil war and why such incidents should be avoided. It is the prayer of all Nigerians of goodwill that God averts any incident that will lead to further bloodshed in Nigeria.

Madueke wrote from Abuja.

Source: guardian.ng

The United Kingdom are seeking to know from the Nigerian Government, the whereabouts of the Leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, Nnamdi Kanu.

They British government have asked the Federal government if Nnamdi Kanu who is a British national is alive or dead.

According to Punch, the Press Officer, UK high commission in Nigeria, Joe Abuku, stated that the inquiry followed reports that Kanu had been missing since September 14, 2017 when armed soldiers stormed his residence in Abia State.

Abuku said this in response to questions from Saturday PUNCH seeking to know UK’s concern on the missing IPOB leader.

“We are seeking urgent clarification from the Nigerian authorities about the status and whereabouts of Mr. Kanu, a British-Nigerian man, who has been reported missing since September 14,” Abuku stated in an email on Thursday.

Asked if the UK would strip Kanu of citizenship on account of the declaration by Nigeria that he was leading a terrorist organisation, the mission said it does not comment on individual cases.

“One of the conditions that can make the United Kingdom strip its citizen of nationality is if the person engages in a terrorist activity at home or abroad. And Kanu has dual citizenship and therefore a citizen of Nigeria and the UK,” the mission stated.

When asked if the UK supported the Nigerian government’s proscription of the IPOB, Abuku stated that the group was not a proscribed organisation under the British law.

“The Indigenous People of Biafra is not a proscribed organisation in the UK,” the mission spokesperson stressed.

However, when asked if the group was free to raise funds or hold rallies in Britain, Abuku said he would need to get an official response on that, but subsequently declined to respond to the question.

He also declined comment on whether the IPOB might be designated as a terrorist group or proscribed by the British authorities.

Abuku said, “We do not routinely comment on whether an organisation is or is not under consideration for proscription. A decision to proscribe an organisation must be based on a belief that it is concerned in terrorism as defined in the Terrorism Act 2000, and it must be proportionate.”

The United States had earlier said it did not consider IPOB a terrorist group and urged Nigerians to de-escalate tension and embrace peaceful resolution of grievances.

Spokesperson for the American Embassy in Nigeria, Russell Brooks, had said, “Within the context of unity, we encourage all Nigerians to support a de-escalation of tension and peaceful resolution of grievances. The Indigenous People of Biafra is not a terrorist organisation under US law.”

Source: www.ayola.tv

The agitation of the Indigenous People of Biafra took a dramatic turn in the week ended Saturday, September 23, 2017, during which the group was proscribed and its erstwhile boastful leader, Nnamdi Kanu, took to his heels when confronted with fired up soldiers. Also, during the week, there was an international angle to the secessionist agitation as the Federal Government decided to name two countries – Britain and France – as collaborators in IPOB’s agitation.

The Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, told the nation on Wednesday, September 20, 2017 how Britain and France had been tacitly complicit with IPOB in its destabilisation of Nigeria.  Britain, stated the minister, continued to tolerate Radio Biafra’s hate and incendiary broadcasts from London while France was said to be the financial clearing house of IPOB from where funds flowed to the group. The minister had asserted: “Let me tell you, the financial headquarters  (of IPOB)  is in France, we know”  and also posed a rhetorical question : “Who does not know that IPOB internal radio is located in London?”  Mohammed explained how Britain had been frustrating Nigeria’s diplomatic efforts with the British authorities to shut down the pirate radio station only to be given the nebulous excuse of freedom of speech. He had wondered: “If we have a person in Nigeria openly soliciting arms to come and fight in the UK, what would you think of it?  Would you consider that freedom of expression?“ The minister implied that the two countries had been engaged in semantics or what I would call diplomatic jousting. Mohammed spoke of “knotty diplomatic issues which you need to skip” only to add in a double talk “I don’t want any diplomatic row”. Of course, the minister knew the charges against the two countries would spark diplomatic skirmishes, perhaps, low level, for now.

Well, these are trying times in Nigeria and nationalist fervour demands that the country must be ready to ruffle some diplomatic nests in defence of the sanctity of her territorial integrity and  sovereignty. There is reciprocity in diplomatic relations. We need to remember that Britain and France have played ignoble roles in the international arena in recent times under the self-serving subterfuge called “International community”. Britain followed the United States to declare war on Iraq on the lie that Iraqi President, Saddam Hussein, had “weapons of mass destruction” which must be neutralised. They ended up destroying that country and got its president hanged, as a rub in. Yet, Tony Blair, the then British Prime Minister, who stridently orchestrated Gulf War 11 could still face the world and declare that he had no apology for the destruction of Iraq, a country that has not known peace since. Such brazenness! Such denial of criminal culpability by a British Prime Minister who had made a pastime of pillorying President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe whose main offence was winning re-elections in his country. Apparently, Blair, with imperialist hangover, wanted a regime change in Zimbabwe but met more than his match in President Mugabe, who once derisively called him Tony b-Liar. You see, the old Zimbabwean warhorse was right, Tony Blair lied on Iraq. So, if Britain condoned the Iraqi war, why is the Nigerian government peeved by the British High Commission’s statement condoning Radio Biafra’s hate and inciting broadcasts on the puerile doctrine of freedom of expression? The same Britain that shut down the internet when youths went on the rampage in London on the excuse that they were using it to network and mobilise Prime Minister, chubby boy, David Cameron, in an expansive mood, once described Nigeria as a “fantastically corrupt” country, another brazenness from a country that is fantastically a receiver of stolen funds, being the financial capital of the world, both legitimate and illicit. Well, it was good riddance, as the political gambler fantastically lost the Brexit vote that saw to his exit from 10 Downing Street, the Prime Minister’s official residence.

As for France, it supported Biafra 1 and facilitated Emeka Ojukwu’s exile in Ivory Coast, her satellite nation; so, it should be no surprise that it is the financial clearing house for IPOB, the leading agent for Biafra 11. France was indicted in the Rwanda Genocide of 1994, in which an estimated 800,000 Tutsis lost their lives, for being complicit with the then Hutu-led government. France also led the Western onslaught on Libya that saw the killing of Libyan leader, Muammar Gaddafi. In 2011, France, brazenly thwarted the will of the Ivorian people, when under the cover of “International community” mandate, it provided military support for a candidate, Alassane Quattara, in Cote D’Ivoire’s disputed presidential election to capture a sitting African President, Laurent Gbagbo! Gbagbo had won the majority in the main election and was pronounced winner of the re-run by the country’s Constitutional Court only for the UN Representative in Cote D’Ivoire to assume the role of electoral commission to declare Quattara as the winner! Sadly, Nigeria’s naïve President Goodluck Jonathan, as ECOWAS leader, had endorsed the UN envoy’s verdict, and consequent UN mandate, which accorded French military incursion a dubious legitimacy. Cote D’Ivoire is France’s milking cow, a situation President Gbagbo had ended, so the empire struck back. With Quattara, who is married to a French woman, in charge, France has returned to gravy train in Cote D’Ivoire while President Gbagbo languishes in detention at The Hague facing criminal charges at the International Court of Justice. The West sent Gbagbo to jail for a domestic election dispute, but Tony Blair still struts around, a free man. Talk of the hypocrisy of the “International community”!

Nigeria’s political leadership should be under no illusion about affectionate love from Britain or France, and, by extension, western countries. Britain and France are yesterday’s countries, over whose empires the sun has set, now playing a fickle third fiddle in international power relations and  struggling for residual relevance in Africa. Nigeria, on the other hand, is a country of the future with great potential which some vested interests may not want manifested being a threat to their hegemonic hold. You see, no country in Europe has Nigeria’s landmass, natural resources or population. According to worldometers.info (2017), the combined population of Britain (66.2 million) and France (64.9 million) is 131.1 million compared to Nigeria’s 192.06 million while the combined landmass of Britain and France is 789,487 sq km as against Nigeria’s 910,770 sq km. Given these endowments plus high calibre human capital, the prospects of Nigeria as the great Black Hope are bright.  We can now begin to understand why many countries would have dubious designs on Nigeria and would not be averse to its disintegration.

Dr. Olawunmi, Senior Lecturer, Department of Mass Communication, Bowen University, Iwo  and former Washington Correspondent of the News Agency of Nigeria, is a Fellow, Nigerian Guild of Editors. Email: olawunmibisi@yahoo.com Phone 0803 364 7571

Source: punchng.com

According to radical writer, Tariq Ali, a true revolutionary is one who disregards personal safety in the pursuit of one’s beliefs. He cited Che Guavara who left the comforts of Argentina to fight in the jungles of Bolivia and died while in combat. He never failed to also mention Malcolm X as one of his heroes who was to meet his waterloo in the heady, violent days of 1965. Unfortunately, there was a disconnection between what he espoused and what he practised. During the brutal dictatorship of General Ayub Khan in his native Pakistan where thousands of citizens died in bloody demonstrations, the students urged him to return home to lead the struggle from within and use his vast global contacts to yank off the military from power. Khan had other ideas and preferred to sit in London, editing a journal because he was scared that his passport might be confiscated. He refused to go to Paris in 1968 to attend an important conference because he was scared he might not be allowed back into Britain since he had five months left to become a British citizen. He was tragically a safety first radical apologies to Adewale Maja-Pearce, former editor of the Index on Censorship.

The leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu once boasted that he would deal with any invading force from Abuja and that it would be Biafra or death. When death came in the face of Operation Python Dance, what did he do? He allegedly vanished into thin air as his whereabouts have been unknown since his father’s palace was invaded by the military marauders.

His disappearing act must have come as a gargantuan shocker to his horde of disciples who called him a Lion and swore that he would stand as the Rock of Gibraltar in protecting their interests. What his zealous supporters failed to acknowledge was that their idol failed to stand up for some of his supporters who were detained. He earlier promised not to leave them behind in jail but when his bail came through, he made a volte-face. Wasn’t that a sign of more sinister things to come?

He who fights and runs away lives to fight another day seemed to be his mantra as he was not ready to toe the path that Che Guevara, Martin Luther King Jnr, Patrice Lumumba etc trod.

His followers were at the mercy of the army goons who whipped them mercilessly to submit to the constituted authority. They needed succour from the man who touted himself as the next big thing in revolutionary warfare but alas all they got was an elitist conspiratorial silence.

IPOB as part of the fallout has been proscribed as a terrorist organization. The alleged presence of a Biafran intelligence service lent and Kanu’s call for the purchase of weapons made the Federal Government move swiftly to forestall any breakdown of law and order. To categorise them alongside Boko Haram was in bad taste. It would be interesting to hear Kanu’s voice denounce the actions of the Buhari led administration on his organization. Tragically, he has been turned into a fugitive and enemy of the state.

He now has the charge of terrorism in addition to the earlier treason charge and this wouldn’t be easy to deal with as being let off the hook may be nothing short of wishful thinking.

One wonders why there has been deafening silence by his supposed foot soldiers and erstwhile sympathizers! No official statement from his bail sureties or any from his horde of disciples. Is it that they failed to successfully buy into his ‘vision?’ Has the tide of the times made it unsafe to publicly associate or identify with him? Is it a failure on his part as a leader that he had no loyal crop of loyalists? Some traditional rulers went as far as asking the state government to withdraw the staff of office from his father. The greatest blow came from the southeast governors who denounced him and his organization. Let’s not forget that Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe was among those that stood surety which meant an indirect governmental backing from his homeland.  Was his fame a nine-day wonder accentuated by his prolonged detention and as such had no roots and substance?

Successful liberty fighters have their machineries well oiled either during their time of flight or even death. The likes of Oliver Thambo, Walter Sisulu, Desmond Tutu, Thabo Mbeki etc spread forth the anti-apartheid message while Mandela and the 26 others were behind bars. The 1917 Bolshevik revolution was spearheaded by Lenin from exile in Switzerland. Why hasn’t the so-called international support of IPOB seen a propagandist machinery to keep its ideals alive?

We recall with gusto the way and manner Ralph Uwazurike swept the south-east with his Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB). After his first spell in detention, it fizzled out like the musical candle in the wind.

Some of Kanu’s traducers accuse him of succumbing to hubris by allowing a guard of honour to be mounted by his foot soldiers which he inspected and infamous picture that circulated virally which saw him step his feet on an overzealous disciple.

For a man who enjoyed support from the likes of Pat Utomi and Chukwuma Soludo, this is not the best way to end up.

Some cold comfort is coming from the United States who disagreed with the Nigerian government that IPOB is a terrorist organization. The UK and France have come to deny their countries being used as a funding conduit for the marked organization. Nothing has come in the way of support for Kanu from any of the aforementioned countries and it is crystal clear that he has been left to stew in his own juice.

Will Kanu go down the way of Uwazurike? Would he like the phoenix re-emerge as another Dim Odumegwu-Ojukwu who was still held in high esteem despite his 1970 cowardice?

Time never fails!

Source: ynaija.com

Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has called on the United Nations mission to Nigeria and other global authorities to prevail on the Nigerian government under President Muhammadu Buhari to produce their leader, Nnamdi Kanu whose whereabout has remained unknown following the invasion of his home a fortnight ago by Nigerian security forces.

The group also maintains that Kanu’s mother and father are still missing after the attack on their home which left no fewer than 28 persons dead.

A statement signed by Emma Powerful, the spokesman of the group reads in part, “Mazi Nnamdi Kanu who incidentally holds British citizenship has been missing since a detachment of exclusively Northern officers stormed his residence on Thursday 14, September 2017.  Ever since this brutal assault that left 28 dead inside his compound including two of his cousins, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu along with his parents His Royal Majesty Eze Israel Kanu and Ugoeze Sally Nmeme Kanu has not been seen. The video footage of the assault and the extent of destruction wreaked on his family home is in the public domain. Video clips and photographs of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu’s bedroom riddled with bullet holes from the guns of the Nigerian soldiers that stormed the palace are evident till today.”

Regretting that the invading soldiers plundered the home of Kanu vandalizing, looting and stealing everything they could lay their hands on, IPOB said that from inception of the Python Dance II against the unarmed Biafran populations, many young men have been killed by the soldiers with many more unlawfully detained and hundreds missing.

The statement further read: “What the world is witnessing is a well orchestrated and premeditated mass slaughter of unarmed civilians with the consent of South East governors. That Umahi, Ikpeazu, Okorocha, Obiano and Ugwuanyi acquired the cover of Python Dance II to unleash state terrorism against unarmed people is an indictment on the predatory brand of politics Biafrans are forced to endure.

“The deceptive lying Lai Mohammed can twist the facts all he likes but the fact remains that somebody somewhere ordered the unprovoked military invasion of Kanu’s house where hundreds of rounds of bullets were discharged and 28 people killed. These are facts that no amount of carefully choreographed performances and pronouncements by Buratai, Lai Mohammed and the South East governors, can easily bury.”

IPOB explained that before the invasion of his house, Kanu was seen chatting with people; but after the military attack on his bedroom, he has not been seen till date.

“It is the duty of sensible and civilised nations to ask Buhari, Buratai and the killer governors of the South East what they did with our leader because we will not stop until justice is done. The world has a moral duty and obligation to put an end to evil dictatorial regimes such as we are all witnessing in Nigeria today”, Emma Powerful wrote.

Source: newtelegraphonline.com

The python has really continued to dance in the South-East region of Nigeria. Last Wednesday, the acting chief judge of the Federal High Court, Justice Adamu Abdul-Kafarati, heard the attorney-general of the federation, Abubakar Malami, on a motion ex-parte banning the activities of the group known as Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), pursuant to provisions of the Terrorism Act 2013 (as amended). The motion was granted, thus signifying judicial and executive endorsement of the controversial “pronouncement” by the military.

None of the prominent voices that criticised the military after its earlier pronouncement of the group as a terrorist organisation did so out of the belief that such a move would be unjustified. Rather, the critics, like Bukola Saraki, the Senate president, raised technical legal issues about how such a proscription should come about. Now that the legal hurdle is out of the way concerning the proscription, we ought to set our minds on how best to proceed while also trying to anticipate the possible reactions of the group to this development.

Officially proscribing the group presents both good and bad news for the country. The good news is that the move, which was preceded by a similar action by the leaders of the South-East, indicates a move forward from the initial situation where the door for sympathy and open tolerance of the many dangerous actions of the group was still open. The bad news is that the problem of identity crisis which the group appeared to have been struggling with has now been settled by the government.

Nnamdi Kanu, the self-acclaimed “supreme leader” of the group has all along been trying to sell the group as a non-violent movement, while his rhetoric at other times encourages violence from his supporters. His claim of non-violence is also negated by the contemplation and actual setting up of a “Biafra Secret Service”, while openly soliciting for funds and arms from Nigerians at home and abroad. The fear now is that any pretences of non-violence have effectively been thrown out of the window since the group has been outlawed. Forthwith, any IPOB activity now will be criminal, and will be met with the force of the state. In this case, the scales may have just been tipped towards a violent movement, if the group desires to remain active.

As some have opined, the madness of the group may, in fact, be methodical. It is one possibility we cannot write off. Kanu may be irrational and criminally eccentric, but his actions can be viewed through an altogether different lens or prism. It would seem that the federal government has played right into his hands. It is a classical play made by terrorists and other questionable organisations around the world, to hound the state into responding violently, capture the acts and use the images to garner sympathy at home and abroad. With IPOB already writing to the international community about a non-existent genocide against Igbo’s in Nigeria, we may have to come to terms with the reality that the group is ready to strategically sacrifice lives to generate sympathy from the international community.

Many criticised Odumegwu Ojukwu, the late Biafran hero, on the use of the same tactics during the civil war, when he refused to accept food and supplies from Britain and other federal government friendlies, while Igbo’s were dying of starvation. Inducing the security forces to wield their big sword is not beyond IPOB. Right now, the whereabouts of Kanu and his parents are said to be unknown and there is fear that they may have been harmed by soldiers. For a group populated by desperate and angry young people who have shown a penchant for violence, an extended period of uncertainty about Kanu’s whereabouts may be dangerous for the region. With or without their head, IPOB’s options just became very limited and the security forces need to be prepared to act, within the confines of the law though.

One cannot expect that the group will simply disband and abandon their cause. The dangers of a fully militant IPOB is that it may be as difficult to put out as Boko Haram or the Niger Delta militants which, even with the amnesty programme, cannot be confused for being disarmed or disbanded. These groups are funded by deep-pockets who see advantage in keeping them operational, and any such people in the South-East who shied away because of the relative ‘openness’ of the group before now, may find a more secretive IPOB easier to engage and use as they deem fit.

History is replete with legitimate and recognised bodies using clandestine groups as secret tools in manipulating outcomes. The Provisional Irish Republican Army (PIRA) was formed many years after a failed civil war by the original Irish Republican Army. It later became the unofficial “terrorist arm” of the Irish Republicans and was finally proscribed as such by the UK government. The IRA plagued the British for over 30 years, enjoying underground support from the government of the republic and secretly from other NGOs and individuals because the PIRA’s activities suited their interests. The present situation is much different but one can draw parallels and find lessons there.

This is why it is imperative for the government not to repeat the same mistakes it made, especially with Boko Haram. Having proscribed IPOB, careful monitoring to prevent it from growing into a mammoth is needed. The government has disclosed that a lot of funding for IPOB’s activities come in from France, so further work needs to be done in the light of recent events to warn that any association with the group is tantamount to criminality.

Right now, the name IPOB has been soiled and there is no coming back from it. The group has been successfully demonised, with the help from its members, and it is left to be seen if the dog that has been given a bad name can indeed be put down.

The South-East leaders also have the most important job to do. First, they must be sincere about their motives. As much as the Biafra question is a sensitive issue in the East, they cannot let those sentiments get in the way of comprehensively dealing with the IPOB situation. Although most people outside the East would prefer that the entire Biafra question be put to rest, the South-East governors need to draw a line between the traditional Biafra campaign and Kanu’s hate-propelled brand. They must ensure that the people in the East understand where the line falls.

The Terrorism Act is very thorough about association with declared terrorist organisations. Every individual in the crowds that troop to receive and visit Nnamdi Kanu is now in danger of breaking the law. This includes Ayo Fayose of Ekiti State and Femi Fani-Kayode, who have been known to fraternise with Kanu. Now that the government has made its declaration, what would be its response if these large crowds continue to gather in the name of IPOB?

Right now, the name IPOB has been soiled and there is no coming back from it. The group has been successfully demonised, with the help from its members, and it is left to be seen if the dog that has been given a bad name can indeed be put down. IPOB has become the poisoned chalice, not just for its followers and Biafran supporters in general, but for all Nigerians. The group has been backed into a corner from where it can only attack or submit and its reaction will resonate around the country, for good or bad.

It is obvious that the country can scarcely deal with another militant group. Boko Haram has the advantage of being drawn from locals who have superior knowledge of the terrain, so also with the Niger Delta militants. That is why the security forces should be well ahead and on top of strategies to curb the utilisation of such advantage in this particular case. While these warnings may seem like an overkill, they are made in the hope that for once, we will not let history get past us and repeat itself. How Nnamdi Kanu metamorphosed from a protester in London canvassing for the protection of the Nigerian state over the menace of Boko Haram to a hate-spewing bigot, remains a mystery, but we cannot and should not let more peaceful Biafra dreamers and sympathisers be sucked into the net of IPOB.

For comments SMS (only) to: 08058354382

Source: premiumtimesng.com

Dear Nnamdi Kanu,

We have never met. I only know you by reputation and I have had cause in the last year to write on your activities within the public arena and offer my own views about you, your persona, and your interventions in the Nigerian debate. I sincerely hope you would get to read this letter wherever you may be, that is assuming you are still alive.

Your father’s house was recently invaded by the Nigerian military (surprised you don’t have a house of your own!). We were later told that you simply disappeared into thin air, along with your parents. The murderous Operation Python Dance II that was unleashed on Igboland by the Federal Government of Nigeria has since become a subject of national interest. Many people have proclaimed that you have been killed, abducted and that many members of your family and movement – the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) have been wasted. Some people said you were called The Lion, but when trouble came, you were the first to run away from the zoo. You had boasted that you will deal with any invading force from Abuja. You also said it would be “Biafra or Death”. But when death came calling in the shape of Operation Python Dance II, your enemies insisted that you should have waited. Don’t mind them, oh. I have defended you in another piece where I argued that it is probably better to run away so you can live to fight another day. Of course, it is not every revolutionary that runs away.

Che Guevara died in the struggle, and Martin Luther King, Patrice Lumumba, and so on. Nelson Mandela was jailed for life, but he lived to tell the story. In your case, the way the Nigerian state has been carrying on, it is clear they don’t want you to tell any more stories. You have been charged for treason. You have now been labeled a terrorist. Your organization has been proscribed, and labeled an enemy of the Nigerian state. A week after soldiers stormed your state, neighbourhood and home, the Nigerian Air Force began to drop its men from helicopters all over Igboland. They call it show of force.

I guess all of that is to let you and your men know that wherever you are, the Nigerian state is determined to hunt you down. If you are on land, they will grab you. If you hide in the skies, the Air Force will bring you down. And if you hide in the seas, the Nigerian Navy and the Amphibious Brigade of the Nigeria Army will fish you out. Officially, we have been told that you and IPOB are worse than violent herdsmen and the Boko Haram who have killed thousands of Nigerians in the last year alone. The Boko Haram has been declared the fourth most violent group in the world, but the Nigerian government insists that you pose a greater threat. In fact, a government spokesperson sounded as if there is a secret plan in place to give herdsmen and the Boko Haram national honours.

There is probably something that the Nigerian government and state actors know that we do not know. You were dealing with the charge of treason, now there is the additional allegation of terrorism. Don’t ever deceive yourself that if you get arrested again, you’d be released, except perhaps you change your identity and claim that you are now a herdsman or a member of the Boko Haram. There may be many people who have Nicodemus access to you who may be telling you to come and confront the Nigerian state. That is how Nigerians sweet-tongue people to their death. I am sure that by now, from your hiding place, you would have learnt some lessons.

The Nigerian state may be against you, but the people you really have to fear are the same people you claim to be leading, that is the same people who used to call you messiah and who followed you about, kneeling before you and kissing the ground on which you walked. Of what use is a change-agent without committed followers? Of what use is a revolution without the people’s buy-in? Of what use is an ideology without foot-soldiers? The moment the Federal Government activated Operation Python II, most of the people who used to support you have gone completely silent. The Biafra Secret Service is nowhere to be seen. The Biafra National Guard threw away its uniform. Some of those boys who used to wave the Biafran flag and wear the Biafran cap have thrown them away too. One or two persons are still issuing statements on behalf of IPOB, but even those statements sound like they were issued from business centres. Your own kinsmen have called you a tyrant and an opportunist. Many of them have written social media pieces advising the Federal Government to deal with you, because you don’t listen to advice. They even say you are not a true revolutionary but a gold-digger.

In all manner of ways, the Governors of the five Igbo states are using you to play politics. They have declared IPOB an illegal organization. They are openly abusing you. All the big men in Igbo land are as quiet as the dead sea. Igbo traditional rulers have refused to support your father who is their colleague. Some of them have in fact asked the Abia state Governor to withdraw his certificate and staff of office and appoint another person in his place. Even the big men who signed your bail documents have refused to defend you. You used to boast about international support for the Biafran cause. It has been said that the government now knows some “treasury looters” and international groups who are funding you and that IPOB accounts have been traced to some countries, particularly France. The French and the Turkish promptly distanced themselves from you. But the European Union and the United States spoke nicely. America says IPOB is not a terrorist organization and America will know.

But the Nigerian government that may not know half of what America knows is insisting that it is now a crime for anybody, even as young as five years old to identify with Biafra, regardless of the Constitutional right to the freedom of speech and association and the right to self-determination enshrined in the UN Charter. Indeed, it would appear as if the Nigerian Government has been able to break the spine of your movement, at least for now, and certainly, the way things are, the November 18 election in Anambra state will take place – with or without you. If anybody expected that there would be a massive protest in the South East over the treatment that has been meted out to you, that has not quite happened. All the markets in the South East are open; Igbo traders across Nigeria have moved on with their businesses. Life is so normal in the South East, the Nigerian military is dancing and beating its chest.

Northern and South Eastern Governors are holding meetings and congratulating each other. You turned 50 yesterday, apart from a few messages on social media, everywhere was quiet in the South-East. If this had been a month ago, the crowd that would have gathered at your doorstep would have stretched from Isiama Afara to Afikpo, and the cakes you would have received would have been uncountable. Rochas Okorocha recently got 27 birthday cakes, presented by 27 women, representing the same number of local governments in Imo State, you probably would have received a cake from every local government in the entire South East!

Since your disappearance there has also been little talk about self-determination or Biafra among Igbos. The sound of the narrative is gradually changing. There is more talk these days about Igbo marginalization, and the need to appoint Igbos into offices. One prominent Northerner from Kaduna has since gone to Chatham House in the UK to say Igbos should not complain about marginalization when they didn’t vote for President Buhari in 2015, and that it is foolish for any Nigerian to expect to reap where he or she did not sow. Nnamdi, you’d be surprised that appointment-seeking Igbos will mobilise your people, including your followers, to vote massively for the same people who are currently hounding you, in 2019. You can be sure this will happen. In fact some people are already boasting that the only way to have peace in Nigeria is to make an Igbo man President or Vice President in 2019. While you were shouting “Biafra or death”, some people were eyeing the business and political side of things. Every proposed revolution often runs into its own contradictions. But don’t worry. It may be fashionable now to criticise Nnamdi Kanu but the wisdom of the mob is not always the best guide. I sincerely hope that you are alive, and that you’d not end up as an Abogunrin. Not every man has the opportunity to witness what life would be like after his own funeral. Treachery is one of those unsavoury ingredients of the change process. The deserters of the cause would claim they prefer to survive. The coffin maker prays fervently for business but he would never wish that his own family members should die. But take heart, hope is not lost. The fire that you have lit will continue to burn. Your struggle speaks directly to the subject of the national question. You have reminded all and sundry that Nigeria remains a troubled country and that there are many unresolved issues. Every effort has been made to kill your voice, and your movement, but the ideas that you have forced out of the cupboard will continue to resonate.

The good news also is that there are Nigerians in diaspora who have taken up the struggle. They went to demonstrate at the 72nd United Nations General Assembly in New York and on the streets of London. Your friends, FFK and Ayo Fayose are still standing by you. There are many others out there who also do not agree that you are a terrorist, even if they do not agree with your methods and rhetoric. You have also exposed the hypocrisy of the Igbo elite. You have exposed the desperation of the ruling class. Don’t let your head swell, though. If I must tell you the truth, you over-acted. Too much acting dey spoil cinema. You paid too much attention to ceremony. You were obsessed with your own heroism.

As you read this piece and reflect on your life at 50, let me remind you of the following statement which you made on August 27, 2017:

“Where we are is Biafra land. Aba is the spiritual capital of Biafra land. We started in Aba in 2015 at CKC. That day, heaven authenticated our move that IPOB will restore Biafra and that’s what we have come to do. We died in Aba at National High School. They shot and killed us in other places in Biafra land where they were protesting for my release. As our people rest in the grave, we’ll never rest until Biafra is restored. I don’t care what they say in Abuja. I don’t give a damn what they say in Lagos. I’m a Biafran and we are going to crumble the zoo. Some idiots who are not educated said that they’ll arrest me, and I ask them to come, I’m in Biafra. If any of them leaves Biafra land alive, know that this is not IPOB. Tell them what I said. Tell Buhari that I am in Aba and any person who comes to arrest Nnamdi Kanu in Biafra land will die here. I’ll never go on exile I assure you. Some people talk about restructuring, are we doing the restructuring of Nigeria now? Are we doing fiscal Federalism? Are we doing devolution? What we want is Biafra! Forget all the nonsense they write about us. We are not slowing down and no man born of a woman can stop us…”

Words on marble, Mazi Kanu, these are strong words on marble… Whatever happens, the fight of the python and the lion is a defining moment for Nigeria.

By Reuben Abati

Source: www.vanguardngr.com