The President of the Customary Government of the Indigenous People of Biafra, Emeka Emekesiri, weekend commended the federal government for “the opportunity for fair hearing” given to the rearrested IPOB leader, Nnamdi Kanu.
Emekesiri spoke at a virtual conference with the theme ‘The Arrest of Nnamdi Kanu: What Next for the Biafra Struggle’, organized by Elombah TV.
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He said if the Federal Government “wanted to kill him (Kanu), they had enough time to do so. Let the course of law prevail in his case”.
He said Kanu was not arrested for the Biafran struggle, but for other alleged crimes.
He noted that the Nigerian and international laws do not criminalize agitation for self-determination but only criminal acts such as terrorism, treasonable felony, unlawful possession of firearms and managing an unlawful society which Kanu was charged for before he jumped bail.
Citing CAP 10 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 1990 and CAP A9, Article 20 of Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004, Emekesiri said self-determintion is guaranteed under Nigerian laws.
He said when an organisation begins to commit an unlawful action, it becomes unlawful in the eyes of the law.
In his submission, Dr Nwankwo Nwaezeigwe of the African and Oriental Studies in the University of Nigeria Nsukka said Kanu’s rhetoric and attitude did not paint him as ardent revolutionist.
Also yesterday, head of membership and mobilisation of IPOB in Australia, Kennedy Ochi, in a statement, asked members to boycott travelling with Kenya Airways or patronising Kenyan products.
In spite of the denial by the Kenyan Government, IPOB and Kanu’s family claimed that he was rearrested and extradited from Kenya.
“Our leader was arrested, repatriated back to a country he does not possess its passport. It’s our wish to notify the public that President Keyatta Uhuru of Kenya has a question to answer on the role he played in the abduction of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu. He betrayed our leader and must be held fully accountable for his atrocities.
“This is pure man’s inhumanity to man and he will tell all Biafrans how much he was paid to partake in this devilish act.
“We, IPOB in Australia, support the leadership of IPOB worldwide and our able Directorate of States (Chika Edoziem) and the head of our Media and Publicity (Emma Powerful) to categorically state that all IPOB members both home and abroad should boycott travelling with Kenya Air Line; stop patronising any product made in Kenya and all businesses dealing with Kenyans, following their country’s betrayal. The battle line is drawn.
“Our question to the Nigeria government is will the abduction of our leader solve the continuous marginalisation of south easterners from the current political structure in Nigeria?”
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