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By Vincent Kalu, Lagos, Okey Sampson, Umuahia And Stanley Uzoaru, Owerri
The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has threatened to cripple Nigeria should anything untoward happen to its leader, Nnamdi Kanu who is being detained by the Department of State Service (DSS).
Media and Publicity Secretary of the group, Emma Powerful gave the warning in a statement on Friday in Owerri even as he alleged that the DSS has refused the family access to see Kanu. He also alleged that Kanu’s lawyer and personal physician were also being denied access to him.
Meanwhile, the family has raised the alarm that the Federal Government is fabricating lies against the IPOB leader.
IPOB said: “The Nigerian government and her wicked security agency, the Department of State Service have refused to allow our leader, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu’s lawyers and family access to him in the dungeon of DSS secret cell. It is now confirmed that their real intention in kidnapping him and bundling him back to Nigeria is to kill him.
“The mission they could not actualise on September 14, 2017 when soldiers invaded his Afaraukwu home during Operation Python Dance is what they want to actualise now.”
Powerful claimed further that Kanu’s health had been deteriorating in the DSS cell since he has refused to eat their food, almost one week after his incarceration.
“We demand that DSS should allow him access to his lawyers and family members, for this is his lawful right. And his lawyers are being harassed and we pity them and Nigeria. If anything happens to our leader, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu the Nigerian Government and security agencies must understand the product we are made of and how prepared we are.
“South East Governors and Ohanaeze, including politicians in the region must ensure that nothing bad happens to Nnamdi Kanu because Miyetti Allah and sympathisers of terrorists are going free in the country but ordinary persons and innocent citizens are being molested everyday because they are Biafrans. We won’t accept that.
“We also want to tell the DSS to jettison any plans to inject our leader with poisonous vaccine that will make him die slowly. Any such attempt will come with unimaginable consequences! Nnamdi Kanu must not die in custody.
“The Fulani- controlled Federal Government of Nigeria and DSS should release our leader for international medical check up. He must have access to his doctors to ascertain his current health status since he was abducted and tortured by the security agents.
“We declare without equivocations that the Nigerian Government should not take our calmness for granted. Should anything untoward happen to our leader while in detention or even after, we will totally cripple Nigeria and its government.”
IPOB has also claimed that Kanu is presently being tortured in his cell since he was locked up.
“Our intelligence units are following up events, including the torture being meted out to him since his abduction. The world should see how the wicked Nigerian government is provoking us.
“While Boko Haram terrorists and bandits maiming and killing indigenous Nigerians in their ancestral lands are made to go free, and even the few captured ones are released and given cash after sumptuous treatment in detention, an innocent freedom fighter is made to languish in detention.”
The family of the arrested Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) leader, Nnamdi Kanu, now in the custody of the Department of State Service (DSS), has accused the Federal Government of lying against him with regard to the circumstances surrounding his arrest and the country in which it took place. As far as the family is concerned, the IPOB leader was abducted by the Federal Government, through unconventional means.
Spokesman of the family, Emmanuel Kanu, Nnamdi’s younger brother, who broke his silence against the backdrop of the conflicting reports of how and where the IPOB leader was arrested, described the news flying about as fake and called on Nigerians not to believe it. He noted that it was orchestrated by the Federal Government to serve as distractions in order to “cover their shame.”
His allegations against Federal Government
He accused the Federal Government of lying to Nigerians and the entire world with regard to the country where his brother was arrested, adding that the family and IPOB are waiting for the government to “finish messing themselves up” before they will tell the world the truth.
He remarked: “The FG said they re-arrested Nnamdi Kanu somewhere in East Africa. Later, they changed the narrative and said they picked him up somewhere in Addis Ababa. Somewhere along the line, they equally said they abducted him in UK. We want to allow them to continue jumping from one tree to another, but they must explain to the world where they abducted him. Like I said, we have the facts and figures”.
Reacting to the rumoured luring of the IPOB leader with a woman, Emmanuel responded: “Was it not the same thing they said the last time they arrested him? The Federal Government can go about saying whatever they like. Now, if Nnamdi Kanu is seen with a woman, is that supposed to be an issue? What has it got to do with the struggle?”
He accused the Anglican Bishop of Enugu of buying into the lie of the Federal Government on the issue and advised him to get all the facts about the matter before speaking on it. “He should have waited a bit to understand what happened. So, my sincere advice to him in the future is that he shouldn’t be in a hurry to make any statement he will regret later. That is my honest advice to him. He got it wrong and I’m glad he apologized, indirectly, for what he said.”
He described as “tissues of lies” the allegation that the IPOB leader travelled to the Czech Republic to negotiate for arms or travelled to an East African country to collect money before he was arrested.
He said: “The question remains: what facts do you have to support your allegation that Nnamdi Kanu travelled to buy arms? Produce your evidence before the court and let’s see. And for those saying he went to collect money, when he was in prison, they promised him heaven and earth, but he rejected them. Those allegations are rubbish.”
Asked to explain why Nnamdi Kanu should travel out of the United Kingdom and thereby make himself vulnerable to re-arrest, Emmanuel retorted: “Are you saying that he is not free to go to wherever he wants to go? That shouldn’t even come into play. He is free to go wherever he wants. The fact remains that they picked him up without following due process.”
Emmanuel wants the Federal Government to apologise to his brother because, according to him, he had, long before now renounced his Nigerian citizenship, and was therefore, wrongly arrested because he is not a Nigerian citizen.
Fear, anxiety grip Afara Ukwu community
Away from the family, the mood elsewhere in Afara Ukwu is that of uneasy calm, sadness and fear of the unknown. They so much pervade the community of the arrested leader of the IPOB. When Saturday Sun visited the community, the people were unwilling to speak on his arrest, ostensibly, out of fear. The few who did asked that their names should not be mentioned.
Asked about the feelings of his people, the President-General of the community, said, laconically: “Nobody is happy.” But he rebuffed entreaties to speak further, saying that he was going for a meeting somewhere and was in a hurry to get there.
Another resident who spoke on the subject matter disclosed that they have been under what may be described as a military siege, since after the arrest of the IPOB leader. “The way we cannot tell the fate of our son, Nnamdi, is the same way we cannot say what our own fate is as soldiers have been patrolling our community on regular basis since his arrest,” he said. “Although they are not harassing or molesting anybody physically, they are doing so psychologically by subjecting us to a kind of mental torture with their presence.”
Like the President-General of the community noted before hurriedly taking his leave, during his chat with the reporter, the people are in sombre mood. “Everybody is worried, nobody is happy,” another resident said repeating the man, word-for-word. “Even our Hausa friends are equally worried. One of them even called in to express his worry.”
IPOB leader seeks UK’s assistance
The embattled leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, has appealed to the British government to help him regain freedom from the Nigerian government.
In a letter by his counsel, Aloy Ejimakor of Adulbert Legal Services, Abuja, entitled, “Re: Urgent Request For Consular Assistance To Okwu-Kanu, Nwannekaenyi Nnamdi Kenny (A British Citizen)”, to Catriona Laing CB, British High Commissioner to Nigeria, Abuja, which was dated June 30, and made available to Saturday Sun, Kanu is asking to be granted every possible Consular assistance to which he is entitled as a British citizen.
The letter reminded the High Commissioner that the IPOB leader is also the director of Radio Biafra, with both station and IPOB being corporate citizens of Britain.
According to the letter, Kanu was residing in the United Kingdom, from which soil he departed on an overseas travel on or about June 19, 2021 on a British Passport No: 556543086.
“We are reliably informed that while he was on the said overseas travel, he was intercepted in Kenya by Nigeria’s foreign security agents and brought to Nigeria against his will on or about June 27, 2021 and ‘arraigned’ before the Federal High Court in Abuja without the benefit of counsel on June 29, 2031. Currently, he is being detained in the custody of the Directorate of State Security Services (DSS) in Abuja.”
The letter further noted that there were legal, political and diplomatic issues implicated in this matter.
“They are: Mr. Kanu is a British citizen, who was travelling on a valid British passport when he was seized in a third country and forcibly brought to Nigeria. Such act constitutes an unlawful rendition of a bonafide British citizen.
“He was not travelling on Nigerian passport or the passport of any other country, including that of Kenya.
“There is no extant order of extradition by any British Court or any other foreign court (including Kenya) and we are informed that there is no pending extradition proceedings standing against him in Britain or Kenya.
“There is no deportation Order by any Kenyan Court or other authority that made him subject to deportation. But if there was, the country of his deportation should have been Britain on which passport he was travelling. Deporting him to Nigeria just because he was born in Nigeria, but not travelling on her passport, is unlawful under international law.
“The enterprise upon which Mr Kanu is engaged, which is: seeking the restoration of the defunct State of Biafra through a referendum is a protected political opinion (i.e self determination) under British and Nigerian Laws, where it is enacted at CAP A9, Article 20, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004.
“In our view, the manner of his interception and forcible deportation to Nigeria is extra-legal and does not comport with the pertinent international laws and treaties to which Nigeria is subject,” the letter emphasised.
On the basis of the foregoing, the IPOB leader is asking to be categorized as a high profile political prisoner or a prisoner of conscience and be thus rendered the highest diplomatic protection under municipal and international laws. More so, that the Nigerian authorities be prevailed upon to immediately allow him access to his lawyers, doctors and family members, and the Nigerian authorities be prevailed upon to immediately avail him the opportunity of being taken to any hospital of his choice for medical examination.
“That the British authorities file a Diplomatic Note or other legal process with Nigeria’s Federal High Court and the Office of the Attorney General of Nigeria indicating her sovereign interest in Mr. Kanu’s matter.
“That the British authorities declare that Mr Kanu is not a criminal, but a person who possesses a political opinion the Nigerian authorities are seeking to suppress by means of punishment of some sort.
“That the British authorities urgently demand the unconditional release of Mr. Kanu from detention,” the letter stated.
