Nnamdi Kanu’s Ambitious Project

Fri, Oct 26, 2018 | By publisher


Cover, Featured

NNAMDI Kanu, the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, is again causing concern in the country as he promises to storm Nigeria “with hell” soon to make the people of the South-East and South-South to boycott next elections. But whether the group is going to have its way is a matter of conjecture

By Olu Ojewale

The ghost of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, is never going to be laid to rest in peace; at least, not anytime soon. Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of the group, seems to have vowed to ensure this. When everyone had thought that the IPOB was going into the oblivion, the young sectional leader resurfaced in a manner that shocked everyone.

Justice Binta Nyako
Justice Binta Nyako

In a video message on Sunday, October 21, Kanu vowed not to return to the federal high court in Abuja, where he was standing trial for treason before he left the country. Binta Nyako, a judge of the court, had granted him bail after 18 months in detention. But Kanu had flouted all the terms of the bail, before the military invaded his Abia residence on September 14, 2017.

In the broadcast via Radio Biafra, Kanu said: “I promised the Zoo that I will be coming to Biafra and I came. I do not recognise the court of the Zoo. I want the people of the Middle Belt to rise and join IPOB.

“IPOB military intelligence evacuated me from my compound, when the Army of the Zoo attacked me. I am in Israel and the efficiency of MOSAD will be replicated in Biafra. We shall hunt everyone down to avenge the death of IPOB members.

Trump
Trump

“The governor of Abia State directed the assault on my father, who is a monarch. I thank Donald Trump and the government of Israel, who stood by IPOB in our time of need. I thank Professor Ben Nwabueze who stood by me.”

According to him, the Army who attacked his residence killed 28 persons in the compound including Jack, his dog. Nevertheless, he had consoling words for his sureties who ensured his release from prison, he said: “I am sorry for what my sureties are passing through, but I want to assure them that they will have a special place in Biafra. I shall not be honouring the court. The notion that I jumped bail is a fallacy in Law. I did not jump bail. On the 14th of September, 2017, the terrorists of the Zoo came to kill me. They know if I go to court Nigeria will burn and I was forced to leave. I did not jump bail.”

Besides, he said he could not be tried by any Nigerian court because of his status. “I am not a Nigerian. I already renounced Nigeria in 2015. I am a Biafran with British nationality. I cannot be tried by a court I do not recognise. I do not recognise Nigeria. I can only come to the court with UN supervision,”

He promised that the IPOB will liberate Biafra and we will not take part in any election, until the South East people get a referendum, saying this is not negotiable. “We will achieve this by every necessary means. We thank Israel for all the contributions they made to IPOB. I owe my survival to the State of Israel,” he declared.

Like a military general leading a government, Kanu said in the broadcast: “I decree that there is no longer South East or South South Nigeria. It shall be known as Biafra. Without referendum, nothing will happen in Nigeria. IPOB will not participate in any election and that position will never change. IPOB is the largest mass movement in the whole world. We will not stop until Biafra is fully restored.

“Chukwu Okike Abiama has assured me that Biafra shall come. All collaborators will feel the full weight of the anger of the Biafran people.

“I am coming back to Biafra land soon and I will bring hell with me, the way it has never been seen before.”

Since the broadcast and his threats to return with fire, there have been many remarks about the nature of how he escaped and whether he has the ability and capacity to stop people in the South East and the South-South from participating in the next general. Nigerians wonder how he managed to escape the military onslaught when his residence was attacked in September.

Indeed, Kanu’s whereabouts had been unknown since July when the military launched Operation Python Dance to check activities of the IPOB. On September 14, 2017, the military invaded his Abia residence, but he managed to escape. There are unconfirmed reports that some militants in the creeks spirited him to their enclaves in the Niger Delta before he was smuggled out of the country.

Similarly, there was a rumour that the Department of the State Services, DSS, might have also aided Kanu to leave the country because  both his Nigerians and British passports had been seized by the court. But Peter Afunanya, spokesman of the DSS, denied the allegation, describing the rumour linking the service to Kanu’s escape as malicious. In statement in Abuja on Monday, October 22, Afunanya said: “The service wishes to state that the news is fake, mischievous and defamatory. It is nothing but a figment of the imagination of the originators.

“The public should, by now, have noted the antics of Kanu, IPOB and their collaborators whose stock in trade is to peddle unfounded rumours, gossips and propaganda aimed at subverting the government, its key agencies and officials.”

Ralph Uwazuruike

Ralph Uwazurike
Ralph Uwazurike

Indeed, Ralph Uwazuruike, the leader of the Biafra Independence Movement, BIM, had said on Monday, October 22, at a press conference in Owerri, Imo State capital, while reacting to Kanu’s reappearance in Isreal and broadcast that it was “a non-issue because it was carefully pre-arranged by the Department of State Services, DSS.” The BIM leader said categorically: “Not many of his ardent followers truly know that Kanu is not sincerely working for the independence of Biafra. His coming to Nigeria, his arrest, detention, trial, release on bail and his alleged disappearance and resurfacing, were all prearranged by the DSS.”

Uwazruike reasoned that if Kanu was sincere, he should have disclosed how he was spirited away from his Afara Ukwu country home, when the soldiers struck and how he got to his current destination. “How did he disappear from his country home? How did he survive the onslaught even when he claimed that about 28 people were killed during the military operation in his home? How did he leave Nigeria and what document did he use to traverse all the nations before arriving Israel? We couldn’t have forgotten so soon that the DSS seized all his travel documents,” Uwazuruike said.

After giving a graphic account of the number of times he was arrested, detained and tried in court, Uwazuruike also reasoned that “a freedom fighter donates his life for the struggle he believes in. This is not the case with Nnamdi Kanu. Running away from the struggle means that he is a fake freedom fighter. This young man does not consult anybody and he has no adviser.”

Uwazuruike, who is also the founder and leader of the Movement for the Actualisation of Sovereign State of Biafra, MASSOB, wants the Igbo to disregard the call for boycott of election by Kanu describing it as “unrealistic.”

The MASSOB leader, who gave the warning in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria, NAN, in Owerri, on Monday, October 22, described such call as laughable because he did not have control of election in Nigeria, pointing out that his intention was to incite his members into a venture that could lead to death of innocent Igbo again. He also warned that Kanu is not worth dying for and that he was not fighting for the interest of the people.

Buttressing his argument, Uwazuruike said: “No election, no census, referendum and sit-at home were among MASSOB major agenda in 2004. In 2004, we in MASSOB came up with dummy of no election, sit-at-home order, referendum and no census, which Kanu is selling today in the South-East as strategies towards gaining Biafra independence. However, when I was later called by the late Dim Chukwuemeka Ojukwu and other higher authorities that the strategies would have adverse effect on Ndigbo, we decided to drop them.

“Today, Kanu is using the same dummy to cause confusion in the Biafran areas, not considering their adverse effects. For instance, the issue of no election is a constitutional matter. Kanu does not have the powers to say that election can never take place in the South-East.” He recalled that out  of ignorance, Kanu called for boycott of Anambra State election last year and the election held. “Now that he is calling for another boycott, how does he want to achieve that?” he asked.

The MASSOB leader alleged that Kanu was recruited to destabilise activities of the MASSOB, adding that why he resurfaced again was to use the IPOB’s platform to make money for his selfish gain. “A lot of his members were killed last year and he left them and ran away, a real freedom fighter does not fear for death rather he donates his life for the struggle.

According to Uwazuruike, without the vote of South-East, a president can emerge in Nigeria, arguing that it will make no meaning for the South-East to boycott 2019 election. He said: “The truth is that in the South-East, we have only five states and what a presidential candidate, for example, only needs to win his or her election is two-thirds majority vote. If the five states out of the 36 states, including the FCT, do not vote and 31 states vote, two-thirds majority would still be gotten.

“The president then has the powers to appoint anybody to be in charge of the other five states who do not vote. This is, therefore, politically detrimental to Ndigbo.”

On referendum, Uwazuruike noted that it is not in the Nigerian constitution, adding that for it to be enshrined in the constitution, it must get the approval of the National Assembly and the Presidency.

That notwithstanding, Kanu seemed to insinuate that he was helped out of the country by MOSSAD, an Israeli intelligence force, which the Israeli government somewhat has not confirmed. On Monday, the Israeli government said there was no evidence of the appearance of Kanu in Israel. It further said that the pictures and videos showing Kanu praying in Israel could be old.

During an interaction with some African journalists in Jerusalem, Emmanuel Nashon, the spokesman of the Israeli Foreign Ministry, said there was no evidence that the leader of the IPOB was in his country of recent. “There are no details about his recent visit to this country yet,” Nashon said.

Could Israel have helped Kanu out of Nigeria without the knowledge of the Nigerian government? This could provoke a diplomatic row? But how did he get the travelling papers to relocate to wherever he spoke from? Could he have gotten out with the help of the country or with the help of an international security agency? Nobody has been able to throw lights on those questions.

But the speculation in among some security officials is that Kanu probably had connection with some foreign security agencies that facilitated his departure from Nigeria, more so, because he thanked the Israeli government and President Donald Trump of the United States for their support when IPOB was in trouble.

“I am coming back to Biafra land soon and I will bring hell with me, the way it has never been seen before,” Kanu had said in his broadcast. He is, no doubt, not coming for the continuation of his trial because he does not believe in the Nigerian judiciary. He did not say when or which passport he would use to get back. He did not say why he wants to return to the country either. But it is probably to ensure the people he claims to be fighting for comply with his directive that they should not participate in the next general election and that there should be a referendum to the Biafran cause.

Garba Shehu
Garba Shehu

Reacting, however, Garba Shehu, special assistance to the president on Media and Publicity, in a statement on Tuesday, October 23, asked Nigerians to ignore Kanu as his threat to bring hell to Nigeria was unrealistic. He said: “The Presidency wishes to restate that Nigeria under President Muhammadu Buhari is strong enough to defend its territory against any threat, assuring all Nigerians that there is no reason to worry about the hollow outburst by Nnamdi Kanu, the disputed leader of IPOB on returning to the country “with hell.”

Rather, he said the government saw his reappearance and threats as “a mere distraction which will not be allowed to detract from the existing cordial relationships between Nigeria and other countries.”

Besides, he said the Presidency viewed his reappearance as a vindication for the Nigerian government, which had been accused of either assassinating or kidnapping Kanu. In an interview on the BBC Hausa Service on Tuesday, October 23, Shehu said now that Kanu had appeared, people would know who lied between the government and those that made accusations. Shehu also said that should the IPOB leader enter the country, that his trial will definitely continue.

On his part, Lai Mohammed, the minister of Information and Culture, Wednesday, October 24, denied the report on social media that he threatened that Nigeria would send missile to Israel if Kanu was not released to Nigeria for the continuation of his prosecution. The minister also said that the resurfacing of the IPOB leader in Israel has justified the claims of the federal government that it was not aware of his whereabouts. Briefing State House correspondents after the Federal Executive Council, FEC, meeting presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari, at the Council Chamber, Presidential Villa, Abuja, Mohammed described the allegation against him as fake news. “I was in London, when I heard the story about Nnamdi Kanu surfacing in Israel. I was not in a position to make any statement. But before I knew it, within a few hours, I saw my picture with a story saying that I had actually given Israel ultimatum to return Nnamdi Kanu otherwise, we will send them missiles. I just laughed. It speaks to what we are talking about fake news because it is probably the biggest threat in the run-up to the elections. Having said that, I have nothing more to add to the issue of Nnamdi Kanu. At the appropriate time, the various authorities will make a statement about the issue of Kanu,” he said.

In any case, a coalition of Igbo youth groups including Ohanaeze Ndigbo Youth Council Worldwide on Monday, stated that it was mobilising one million Igbo youths across the South East geopolitical zone to herald the return of the leader of the IPOB back to the country. In a statement issued in Abakaliki by Alex Okemiri, the national president, the World Igbo Youth Congress; Helen Ogbonnaya, the national leader, the South East Women Professionals and Chidera Utucha, the president, the Igbo Students Forum, the groups stressed that they were ready to support every purpose-driven leadership within the zone and beyond.

That said, some Nigerians are not happy with Kanu for calling the country a zoo. “If all the people ruling Nigeria have something fundamentally wrong with their brains and Nigeria is a zoo as claimed by him, why does he want to return?” Akin Akinlabi, a politician asked? He said since Kanu would not respect the rule of the law or recognise Nigeria, he should stay away and try not to distablise it.

Similarly, a lawyer, who wishes anonymity, said what Kanu had been doing suggested that he was being paid by some political elements and perhaps, with the international connections, to cause confusion in the country. He said the constitution is very clear about how Nigerian citizens could seek for redress to get their rights. “But this young misguided man does not get the kind of wise counsel that will lead him on the right path. Those who are using him against the country are the ones feeding fat on the largess through the crusade that is unlikely to lead anywhere. There is the issue of restructuring in the public domain and I think if this done, the whole country will benefit from it. But I can assure you there are some people fanning the ember of disunity in this country using him for their own selfish end,” he said.

That notwithstanding, Ibrahim Abdulmumin, a public commentator, said if Kanu is not a coward, he should have stayed back in the country to fight for his people as he has claimed. He said: “People should ignore Kanu’s childish rants. It is either Kanu has mental issues or he is working for Buhari’ re-election, which explains why he has hurriedly reappeared to call for election boycott after Peter Obi was announced Atiku’s (Abubakar) running mate.”

No doubt, different strokes for different folks. But what is incontrovertible is that Kanu has come into the political consciousness of Nigerians for evil or for good. But whether he is able to fulfil his ambitious project is anybody’s guess.

– Oct. 26, 2018 @ 12:55 GMT /

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