MASSOB: Nnamdi Kanu Remains Biafra Hero, Dead or Alive
Separatist group: Kalu lied, IPOB leader not in UK
With the controversy over the whereabouts of the embattled leader of the outlawed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, yet to be settled, the Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign state of Biafra (MASSOB) has said the separatist leader remained a true hero of Biafra either dead or alive.
The leader of MASSOB, Uchenna Madu, in a statement made available to journalists in Enugu yesterday, said Kanu is a determined young man who has worked tirelessly for the actualisation and restoration of Biafra.
Madu dismissed insinuations that Kanu was a major threat to Nigeria’s existence, noting however, that the inequity and domination of Nigeria by a section of the country was a major danger threatening Nigeria’s unity. “Kanu has proven to be a loved figurehead in championing the self determination struggle for the actualisation and restoration of Biafra. “As freedom can never be achieved on a platter of gold, Biafra revolutionary struggle for actualisation and restoration can never be a childish play.
“We shall never relent or be discomforted because of the Operation Python Dance which MASSOB always see as a sign of jittery and frustration of the authorities,” he said.
The MASSOB leader said his group would not be compelled to change its policy of non-violent agitation and go into arms struggle, adding that the designation of IPOB as a terrorist organisation was trap deliberately set for Biafran agitators “which we shall not fall into.”
He said: “This artificial entity called Nigeria will never be united or exist as one nation as long as these established mentality of a section of the country seeing themselves as the lords of Nigeria.
“Operation Python Dance in Igbo land, outright rejection and opposition to restructuring of Nigeria state and acceptance of deadly Fulani herdsmen as common criminals by Muhammadu Buhari-led federal government have opened the eyes and consciousness of Eastern, Western and Middle Belt regions of Nigeria towards self determination for survival,” the statement noted
Meanwhile, IPOB has said the interview credited to former Governor of Abia State, Chief Orji Uzor Kalu, saying its leader, Kanu, was in London was untrue.
IPOB speaking in a statement signed by its Media and Publicity Secretary, Mr Emma Powerful, said Kalu was being used by the federal government to conceal their atrocities against Kanu and members of his family.
The group said UK was a very organised country that migrants can not sneak into, and if Kanu was in UK, the government of that country would not query the federal government over his whereabout as it recently did.
According to the statement, “His (Kalu) spurious claim that Nnamdi Kanu has made his way to London via Malaysia is confirmation that he would do or say anything to escape his ongoing corruption scandal.”