By PAMELA EBOH, Awka
The Directorate of State (DOS), and movement of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has reminded the public and the International Community that its leader Mazi Nnamdi Kanu remains a prisoner of conscience in Nigerian custody.
The group in a statement on Thursday by its Media and Publicity Secretary, Emma Powerful said that Nigeria Government masterminded the kidnap and extraordinary rendition of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu from Kenya to Nigeria in June 2021 and has been illegally detained in solitary confinement of the Directorate of State Security, DSS facility in Abuja Nigeria, despite court judgments in his favour.
IPOB stated that Kanu is being illegally detained, while government target to destroy IPOB.
It maintained that the indestructible ideology of restoring Biafra has kept IPOB moving along in its quest to restore the Sovereign Nation of Biafra.
The statement read in part: “The Nigerian government had sponsored criminal groups to carry out violence in the South Eastern Region with the name of IPOB. These State sponsored criminals were playing the scripts of their sponsors to drag IPOB and Biafrans into an unprepared war with the murderous Nigeria military.
“That is why they claimed to be the Biafra Liberation Army and targeting the Nigerian Security Forces in Biafra Land. But in all of these, their covert operations have failed.
“IPOB and Ndigbo globally must continue the campaign for the unconditional release of Mazi Nnamdi Okwu Kanu. He did not commit any offence for seeking self-determination for the marginalized Indigenous people of Biafra. Instead, his demand is in line with the UN convention on Civil and Political Rights for the Indigenous People of Biafra.
“Moreover, he has kept his faith and promises without betraying his people even after being illegally detained for nearly four years by the Nigerian government inside the dungeon of DSS in solitary confinement. In October 2022, the Nigerian Appeals Court in Abujadischarged and acquitted him, but the lawless government of Nigeria refused to release him.
“Also, the UN committee on Arbitrary Detention condemned the abduction, extraordinary rendition, and illegal detention of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu and called for his unconditional release. All these resolutions and court judgments have been disobeyed by the same lawless Federal Government of Nigeria.”
While saying that the Nigerian government and her cronies know that Kanu has not committed any crime known to local or international body, it wondered “why it has continued to display their ethnic hatred against Ndigbo by persecuting” its leader.
IPOB added: “Mazi Nnamdi has not been let go because he has not compromised his stand on Biafra, and IPOB has not been destroyed. Mazi Nnamdi Kanu is being persecuted, not prosecuted.
“The Nigerian government should understand that IPOB cannot be destroyed but can only be emboldened as long as the lawless Nigerian government keeps persecuting us. Moreso, our leader Mazi Nnamdi Kanu understands the potency of our collective oath in this struggle and will not yield to the Nigerian government’s antics.
“The International Community must rise and condemn the continuous persecution and human rights violations of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu and Ndigbo in general by the government of Nigeria.
“We are assuring the Nigerian government that IPOB cannot be intimidated into abandoning the Biafra struggle. They must be reminded that Mazi Nnamdi Kanu’s continuous persecution will further expose the mockery of the so-called democracy in Nigeria.
“The Nigeria Government should not forget that since they kidnapped and extraordinary renditioned Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, Nigeria has been bedevilled with economic and security woes and will continue until the injustice against Ndigbo as exemplified in the persecution of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu is addressed.
“IPOB and Mazi Nnamdi Kanu remain resolute in our demand for a referendum and will not be intimidated and persecuted into submission by the tyranny of the government of Nigeria. In the end, Biafra will come, but the wounds of the persecution and wickedness against Ndigbo will take decades to heal. Nigeria must consider the future with the wound it inflicted on Biafrans in mind.”
