*It’s either Biafra or death- IPOB, MASSOB
From OKEY SAMPSON, Aba and JEFF AMECHI AGBODO, Onitsha
Last week, news went virile that the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) has secured some concessions from the Federal Government as a way of ensuring that peace returns to the troubled Niger Delta region.
According to reports quoting spokesman of MEND, Jomo Gbomo, one of the concessions secured from the Federal Government by the militant group was the conditional release of Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) leader, Nnmadi Kanu. The other condition is that he should he renounce his agitation for Biafra.
While this may be seen by many as a good gesture (if it were true), from a hitherto adamant Federal Government, but for the family members of the detained IPOB leader, represented by his siblings, renouncing the agitation for Biafra was a no-go area as Biafra is the identity of the people of the South East.
Speaking with Saturday Sun on the issue, the younger brother of the incarcerated Director of Radio Biafra, Prince Emmanuel Kanu, in a furious tone said it was embarrassing that the family was not contacted or consulted before the purported meeting MEND said it had with representatives of the Federal Government where the said concession was said to have been secured for the conditional release of his elder brother should he renounce Biafra.
A visibly angry Prince Kanu said if at all, such a meeting was held, it was an insult to MEND to table IPOB’s matter before the Federal Government. “MEND is under IPOB and therefore, lacks the capacity to speak on its behalf”, he said.
Prince Kanu was emphatic that Nnamdi, his brother would never trade Biafra for his freedom, reminding the MEND leadership that Biafra was bigger than the militant group or any other group or body in the country.
Prince was of the view that MEND should know where IPOB was coming from and be able to respect its leadership instead of ridiculing it with unsolicited purported truce with the Federal Government.
He made it very clear that Nnamdi’s freedom was very important to them as a family, IPOB as a group and the entire South East region as a people, and that such freedom should never be slaughtered on the alter of Biafra. “We have not and will never put up Biafra for sale.”
Prince Emmanuel stated that the North has identity in Arewa, the West has Oduduwa as its identity and since the South East has Biafra as its own identity, it would be wicked for anybody to ask them to renounce it.
According to him, “The North has its identity, Arewa, the West has Oduduwa as its identity and since the identity of the South East is Biafra, it will be wicked for anybody to ask Nnamdi to renounce Biafra for his freedom. What will freedom to him and to all of us without Biafra?
“If Mr. President will renounce Arewa and his Vice, Oduduwa, then Nnamdi and indeed all of us will renounce Biafra, it is as simple as that”.
He said if it was for that reason they arrested his elder brother in the first place, they made a serious mistake as they will live and die for Biafra.
While ending her voice, Nnamdi’s younger sister, Princess said as a family, they have their honour and do not go back on their words. She said it would therefore, be preposterous for anybody to think that her brother will renounce Biafra to regain his freedom.
“We have our pride, we have our honour as a family and we have our identity as a people which is Biafra. As a family, we do not go back on our words and as a people with Biafra as our identity, we are too proud of that identity and nobody, not even Nnamdi will renounce it”.
In what appeared a family consensus on the matter, the wife of the detained IPOB leader, Mrs. Uchechi Kanu had earlier spoken in the same vein, saying her husband would not abandon the agitation for Biafra for whatever reason.
It’s Biafra or death- IPOB, MASSOB
The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and Movement for Actualization of Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) have blasted the Federal Government and Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) on the purported agreement and condition for the release of Mr. Nnamdi Kanu and others in detention.
IPOB noted that they were not aware of any negotiation with the Federal Government or any other group on their behalf, describing the alleged condition as an insult and laughable.
While speaking to Saturday Sun on the issue, Head of Media and Publicity of IPOB, Mr. Emma Powerful said that the group has not reached any agreement with anybody or group and was not looking forward to any discussions or likely to entertain such insulting proposition.
He wondered how the person who today personify the spiritual, hope and aspiration of millions of people all over the world would renounce Biafra. “Can Buhari renounce that he is Fulani? If Buhari cannot renounce his Fulani Islamic heritage, then IPOB will not countenance such thought.
“It would be very foolish of anyone to sit in front of Nnamdi Kanu to make such a proposal because he will bite off the person’s ear. Nobody of sane mind will dare propose such nonsense to him”, Powerful warned.
“We are more determined in the quest for the restoration of God’s own nation, Biafra people are saying that this question is insulting but nevertheless, nobody can set agenda for us”, he added.
Other leaders of IPOB, Mr. Emma Nmezu and Dr. Clifford Chukwuemeka Iroanya in their reactions said it is Biafra or death, stressing that there is no going back on the struggle for the restoration of the Biafra State.
According to Iroanya “Last week, the world received a shocking but fake news peddled by a group of Judases who go by the name MEND, stating that they have reached agreement with the federal government in which the leader of IPOB, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, will be released from his illegal detention on the condition that he renounces Biafra. Nothing can be further from the truth.
“For the avoidance of doubt, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu never consented to any agreement nor did he at anytime meet with MEND and their ‘Ahithophel Team (Not Aaron).’ It is understandable that MEND and their Ahithophel Team are scavenging for relevance from their moribund status but they should not use the sacred name of IPOB or its leader as a means of survival. MEND and their Ahithophel Team can conveniently carry out their ‘Operation Absalom (Not Moses)’ without dragging the name of IPOB and Nnamdi Kanu into that shenanigan.
“On the other hand, IPOB and their leader Kanu are in full support of any group of dedicated and hardcore freedom fighters such as the Niger Delta Avengers (NDA). We have stated unequivocally and without any fear of contradiction that we are fully in support of the NDA as they embark on freeing themselves from the British criminalitycalled Nigeria.
“What MEND and its Ahithophel Team must know is that Biafra is a spirit because Nnamdi Kanu, by the grace of God, brought spirituality into the agitation for Biafra independence. The fact that many people claiming to be fighting for the interest of the people has sold out in the past or that the so called elites engaged in the mortgaging of their soul to the devil does not mean the emergence of clean, conscientious and patriotic Biafrans is no longer possible.
“We want to make it categorically clear that MEND and their Ahithophel Team are strictly on their own and do not in any way, shape or form represent IPOB or the leader of IPOB, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu. When we say ‘Biafra or Death’, we mean every syllable of that phrase.
“Therefore, anybody thinking that our leader will renounce Biafra is certifiably mad. For both IPOB and their leader, Nnamdi Kanu, it is either we get Biafra or we die getting Biafra. There is no middle ground” Iroanya and Nmezu insisted.
In his own reaction, the leader of MASSOB, Comrade Uchenna Madu dismissed the purported condition saying it is laughable.
“Federal Government’s condition for the release of Nnamdi kanu is a bluff of government that knows nothing about genuine self determination; this condition is not only laughable but inconsequential. MASSOB does not see Kanu as one who can betray his belief in Biafra, he is not a sellout, his ideologies on Biafra may differ, he can never betray hundreds of Biafrans that died recently on the course of Biafra” Madu stated.