ANAMBRA 2017:' VOTE AND DIE', IPOB MEMBERS THREATEN VOTERS

One week to the governorship election in Anambra State, the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra has threatened voters with death if they vote. They also vowed to disrupt the election.

The members of the group marched around some streets in Onitsha, Anambra State on Friday, vowing a lockdown on the day of the election, which is scheduled to hold on Saturday, November 18, 2017.

Members of the group can be heard threatening voters in videos of the march circulating online.

They said, ““If you vote you will die. Don’t go out, stay in your house. If you vote on November 18, you will die. We are not running around for the zoo.

“There will be no election. We will not participate, we will not vote. Nothing concerns us with any election. We are formidable.

“We are in Onitsha to tell the Federal Government to produce Kanu. They should release all the Biafrans in Nigerian prisons.”

Speaking with one of our correspondents on the telephone, IPOB’s Media and Publicity Secretary, Emma Powerful, noted that the purpose of the demonstration in Onitsha was to show the world that “the threat of bullet” would not stop the group from realising its aim of having Biafra Republic.

He said Igbo people living outside the South-East should contact their families at home to boycott all future Nigerian elections, including the governorship election.

Powerful said, “Today in Onitsha, we broke the python Buratai, Ohanaeze, Obiano and Igbo governors brought to our land. Anybody doubting the resolve of IPOB under the supreme command of Nnamdi Kanu is mistaken.

“We will put Anambra State on lockdown on November 18. This is a taste of what is to come. Nigeria should be prepared.

“It is also very critical to inform every Biafran, be you IPOB family member, businessman, farmer, artisan, driver, teacher, doctor, motorcycle/tricycle union, civil servant, trader, market leader, National Union of Road Transport Workers, National Association of Road Transport Owners, fisherman, market men and women, including politicians who believe in freedom and liberty of a free independent State of Biafra, to boycott the Anambra State election.”

According to him, the election boycott will give their agitation a global momentum needed to make world leaders accept a peaceful break-up of Nigeria.

“They will be morally bound to consider a possible date for Biafra’s referendum for independence without delay. A vote in Anambra elections will mean electing into office the same people who, over the years, have been responsible for the death, pain, misery, agony and suffering of our people. We would have only succeeded in renewing our suffering for another four years,” Powerful said.

IPOB: KEEP YOUR YOUTHS IN CHECK, PRESIDDNCY REPLIES OHANAEZE

A spokesperson for President Muhammadu Buhari has appealed to the Ohanaeze group of Igbo leaders to see themselves as partners with the federal government in promoting peace and stability in the country.

Reacting to some criticisms of the president’s Independence Day speech by the Ohanaeze leadership, Garba Shehu, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, said that it was unfair of the group to blame the recent unrest in the southeast region on the federal government.

Throwing light on the import of the Presidential broadcast on the National Day, October 1st, the spokesman said that President Muhammadu Buhari’s message to all community leaders, and that includes the Ohanaeze is that they have a huge role to play in what happens in their communities and in how their youth behave.

“President Buhari was not abdicating his responsibilities. He didn’t request any political leader to do anything seminal or out of the box. All he said is, talk to your out-of-the-line-youth so that we have some peace.”

“Igbo leaders need not to be on the defensive for the misbehaviour of the IPOB which they rightly condemned,” Mr. Shehu said. “The President was simply saying that the regional leaders also have a role to play in keeping their hot-headed youth in check.”

This admonition, the SSA Media pointed out, applied equally to leaders of every other region of the country, not only the Ohanaeze from the southeast. According to him, elders from every region must step out and speak up whenever their youth go out of line, such as when the IPOB launched unspeakable diatribes against other groups of people in other parts of the country and then began to threaten violence.

“President Buhari was simply calling out the regional leaders to their responsibilities, making them aware of the crucial role they can play. This should not be seen as an attack on the Ohanaeze or on any other regional leaders,” he said.

Responding to other criticisms of the President’s speech, particularly the declaration that all matters of restructuring or constitutional amendment are the business of the National Assembly, Mr. Shehu reiterated the President’s line that the Parliament as a key institution in democratic governance is the proper venue for the ventilation of, and resolution of all contentious issues.

“It beats our imagination that men claiming to be democrats or having democratic credentials are asking the government to ignore an elected parliament in preference to a committee made up of presidential appointees to debate and resolve constitutional issues. You are either for democracy or for its opposite. For us in this government, democracy is the country’s chosen system of government and we are determined to deepen and uphold it. Democracy may be slow and chaotic, but it remains the best system of government the world has got so far.

Democracy in Nigeria has come to stay and the administration will deepen it, not kill it.”

Mr. Shehu referred Nigerians questioning the success of administration so far to look at the mirror and see themselves. We inherited a country in tatters- its economy, its security and in its social relations.

President Buhari deserves credit for rebuilding what has been destroyed. If anyone thinks this a failure, let them talk to those millions of farmers we have empowered to create riches for themselves and the nation, for whom fertilizer is available everywhere at the regulated price of N5,500 instead of N13,800 a year ago; let them ask the manufacturers and importers of goods who bought the Dollar at N525:00 and are happy that it is down to N360:00 and still improving; let them go back and read the accomplishments highlighted in the speech, to see the advancements in security, agriculture, the ease of doing business and anti-corruption, to mention a few.


As for those critics who are used being settled by successive governments, with false claims to being so-called conscience of society popping out from the cupboard on and off to drive the country towards religious and ethnic polarization, they have no other motive but to rock the boat of good governance. What they yearn for is to be picked out to be paid to keep quiet. The Buhari government has abolished “settlement.”

Polarizing speeches that aggravate brother Nigerian against a brother Nigerian are causing damage to our democracy, rocking at the very foundation of our unity and they better not cross those red lines as warned by the President.

KANU REMAINS 'BIAFRA HERO' DEAD OR ALIVE - MASSOB

The Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign state of Biafra (MASSOB) said yesterday the missing leader of Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, is a true hero of Biafra, even dead or alive.

MASSOB described Kanu as a determined man who was destined for the actualisation of Biafra.

In a statement posted by its leader, Uchenna Madu, MASSOBB said: “Kanu does not pose any danger to Nigeria’s existence; the problem that poses a dangerous extinction to Nigeria’s existence is Hausa/Fulani domination of Nigeria over the general interest of other ethnic nationalities.”

MASSOB said Kanu had proven to be a loved figure for championing the self-determination struggle for the actualisation and restoration of Biafra.

NNAMDI KANU IS IN LONDON, HE WENT THROUGH MALAYSIA - ORJI KALU

In this interview, former governor of Abia State, Orji Uzor Kalu reveals the hiding place of Nnamdi Kanu.

Why did you say that the agitation for a sovereign state of Biafra cannot succeed and that what the Igbo should aim at now is to produce the president of Nigeria?

The Igbo should strive towards producing a president in the Federal Republic of Nigeria instead of agitating for the sovereign state of Biafra. I was the governor (of Abia State) for eight years and the issue of Biafra came up then. It even became a serious issue at a time that I decided to lead (Ralph) Uwazurike to see (former) President (Olusegun) Obasanjo but the former president refused to receive him. I was then surprised that the same Obasanjo was advising President Muhammadu Buhari to dialogue with (Nnamdi) Kanu. That sounds very funny to my ears and I don’t believe that such statement could come from the respected elder statesman who once told me at the Villa that he will never engage in a dialogue with somebody who wanted Nigeria to break up. There are so many federal roads in the eastern part of the country that are in serious dilapidated conditions but President Buhari has been fixing some of them now. If the immediate past government led by my brother and friend, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, had paid a little attention to the terrible infrastructure decay in the South-East and South-South geopolitical zones, there won’t be any form of agitation in the first instance. Some of these people involved in the Biafran agitation are doing so out of frustration. Climate change had really dealt with most communities in the South-East leading to flooding and massive erosion. So, the Igbo should produce a leader that will fix the economic and infrastructural challenges affecting not only the Igbo but the entire Nigeria.

But do you think that the agitation for Biafra will stop even with an Igbo man as president?


Biafra as a concept can never die but I want a situation whereby it will exist in the minds of everybody as an ideological issue and not as a geographical expression. The real Biafra should be a concept for development, and economic growth through planting of more agricultural trees for commercial purposes. The concept of Biafra should be on how to achieve an empowerment strategy for our people. We need a Biafran agitation that will strengthen our industrial base and bring prosperity to Nigerians. It is difficult to talk about Biafra as a republic when the Igbo are living and have investments everywhere in Nigeria. If you go to Birnin Kebbi now, the Igbo are in the majority there after the aborigines; the same is the situation in Ogbomoso, Osogbo, Kafanchan and other major towns across Nigeria. So why are we agitating for a republic? God decided to create us as Nigerians so that we can derive strength from our diversity. The young men who are championing the Biafran republic have never heard the sound of a gun before.

But you met with Nnamdi Kanu in the prison, did you explain all these things to him?

I spoke with Nnamdi Kanu in the prison and gave him quality advice. I counselled him to embrace peace and agree with whatever terms that will set him free. I also warned him against allowing his boys to be displaying Biafra flags, coat of arms, organising parades, establishing secret security service, and mounting a guard of honour. I told him that by doing all these, his group had subdued the sovereignty of Nigeria and are therefore looking for trouble. No government on earth including the United States will allow any group to be championing the cause of dividing their country. I believe most sincerely that with the situation on ground today, majority of the Igbo do not agree on the issue of Biafra as a separate country. I have heard some elite, including professors who are saying that they want Biafra but they should know that there is no way such agitation can be achieved under the law. There is no section of the Nigerian constitution where you have restructuring. There is no section that spells out the process for dividing the country. All those things are alien to the constitution. If willingly, we want to talk about constitutional amendment, then people can bring up various issues. Today, the creation of Biafra Republic is not feasible. The (Indigenous People of Biafra) boys have the right to express themselves but they do not have any right to engage in destruction of property, raping women or setting up a Biafran intelligence service. No country will allow that to happen. I am an Igbo man before being a Nigerian and I have no regrets being an Igbo man. I have lived outside Igbo land so I understand Nigeria. I sincerely want to say and maintain what I have said earlier that Biafra as a country is not an issue now. The issue is for the Nigerian government to give us justice and fairness. When some Igbo people cry of marginalisation, I tell them that if they go to other parts of the country, the people there are also crying because the story is the same. There is a wall between the rich and the poor. We don’t have any war of dialect or language. The rich people should start having a human face so that we can move the nation forward.

What was the response of Nnamdi Kanu to your explanations after your discussion with him in prison?

I will not tell you a lie. Nnamdi Kanu did not agree with me at all on my views about his activities. I did most of the talking throughout the two hours and ten minutes that I stayed with him. I told him many stories about life especially some of the stories that the Ikemba Nnewi (Odimegwu Ojukwu) told me when he was alive and also explained lot of things to him based on my experience in life but didn’t agree with me. I had to cut short my journey when I heard what was happening between his boys and the military. I returned to the country on September 14 and came straight to Abia State on the 15th to make sure that we talked to the IPOB boys so that they would stop what they were doing and allow peace to reign.

But people are saying that the Army aggravated the tension by launching the ‘Operation Python Dance.’

Nobody can say that the Army has no power to do training. Such argument is out of order. The army has the power to do training in any part of the country.

You said that majority of the Igbo do not agree with the agitation for Biafra as being championed by IPOB. Do you think that your position is justified based on the alleged foreign support that the group is receiving?

There is no foreign government that is supporting IPOB. I have consulted all the intelligence agencies in Germany, France, US, UK, China and I have discovered that there is no foreign government that is supporting Biafra. If foreign governments are supporting them, you would have seen the change in their approach and strategies. They are just using that as propaganda to deceive people. It is a lie.

There was apprehension and tension in the South-East following the military show of might in Abia State, and you offered to talk to the federal authorities to see ways of bringing about normalcy, how far have you gone in this regard?

Based on our timely intervention, the federal authorities have replaced the soldiers with the police on roads. The military are back to their barracks. Some of these things about tension are mere propaganda. Immediately I returned from the United States, I embarked on consultations. From September 15 to today, I have consulted fully with all institutions of the Federal Government involved and they all responded to my enquiries. I have since discovered that people are blackmailing the Federal Republic of Nigeria, and the propaganda cannot stand. We are a nation and we must continue to live in harmony and do things the proper way. All these things are annoying.

But proponents of a Biafran nation have argued that the sovereignty of an Igbo country will bring rapid development to the people better than what they are getting under the Nigerian government.

No, no, no, nobody is talking about that. We are not talking about having a nation as the Igbo people any longer. We are talking about one nation that is one Nigeria. I know that after the war and in the process of punishing those who took active part in it, a lot of injustices have been perpetrated but we have also had opportunities as southerners to correct some of these things when our people were in power at the federal level but they failed to do anything. For example, since 1999 that Nigeria returned to democracy, there is no northern leader that has really ruled this country up to one term. Former president Olusegun Obasanjo did two terms totalling eight years, while Goodluck Jonathan did six years. One would have expected these two leaders to turn the South-East to paradise if truly the problem is between the North and the South. Roads like the Enugu-Umuahia-Okigwe-Aba-Port Harcourt expressway, Enugu-Awka-Onitsha Expressway, Owerri to Port Harcourt, Aba, Ikot Ekpene-Calabar, Imo-Mbadon-Umuahia-Bende-Ohafia-Arochukwu-Cross River and the Okigwe-Nnewi highways. These are the roads that people are complaining about. At the moment, you can see construction work going on the Enugu-Port Harcourt Expressway, while work is also ongoing on the Awka-Onitsha Expressway. There is also work going on now on the Umuahia-Ikot Ekpene Road. These are being done by the Federal Government of Nigeria under President Buhari. He once challenged me when I complained about the poor state of our roads. He said, “But we once had the secretary to the government of the federation, the minister of finance, minister of aviation, deputy senate president, deputy speaker of the House of Representatives and many others in powerful positions but that they did nothing about the roads.” Now the minister of works has given marching orders to the contractors handling the road projects to start the jobs. If our sons and daughters who had held influential positions in the recent past had improved on the development of our area, we would not be where we are today. Sometimes, our people are fed with wrong information. We also have governors in the South-East, who didn’t really perform. If Jonathan had done these Roads, nobody would be talking about marginalisation today. If Jonathan had done the East-West road, nobody would be complaining. The problem of Nigeria is that most people who found themselves in the position of leadership were not prepared for it. You must be able to manage yourself before you manage others.

IPOB members are saying that the soldiers took Nnamdi Kanu and his parents away while the military authorities are denying it. As an Igbo leader, what is the position of things?

Kanu was not taken away by the military. Kanu went to Malaysia from where he travelled to the United Kingdom. Nnamdi Kanu is in London right now as we speak. He was not arrested by anybody. He left the country on his own. One of his relations has spoken to me and explained everything because I wanted to see him and talk to him wherever he was and see how I could meet some Federal Government officials on his issue. I also wanted to see ways of talking to the President about him, and find common ground but his family told me that he has left the country, unless they are lying to me. I believe, whether he had left the country or not, he is not with the military because I asked the Commander of the 14 Brigade, Brig.-Gen. A.K Ibrahim, who is a very fine and good soldier, well educated and dedicated, and he told me that they don’t know his whereabouts and I am sure, the Department of State Services have the same information. I also visited the commissioner of police and he said he didn’t know his whereabouts and that they are also looking for him.

What of his parents, where are they?

I don’t know. I visited them in December last year and I was not impressed with the discussion I had with the father and the mother because I expected them to have acted better. Since then, I have not visited them. I feel that they have not impressed me because they ignored my advice to them to talk to their son on the need to stay at home and avoid public outings. I said his people can continue to carry their flags around but that they should not disturb anybody again. They have a right to express themselves but that such rights should be within the limits of our constitution. They have the right to carry Biafran flags but they should do so within the limits of the constitution. Once your activities are within the limits of the law, you are in order. You cannot carry Biafra flags and be stopping vehicles and smashing their windscreens. You cannot carry Biafra (flags) and be raping young girls, you also cannot carry Biafra (flags) and be assembling young men every day. These are people who have no job and after doing that, they will go and engage in kidnapping or they will go and do armed robbery while some will go and do other things to make money. Hunger is a very terrible thing. The traders in the market have warned them to stop the nonsense they are doing. Why should you be extorting money from people in the name of Biafra agitation? They are extorting money from people in the market against their will. If the federal and state governments continue to watch and allow all these things to continue, there will be chaos in the state. If Kanu had not proved stubborn but listened to advice and kept to the rules of the court, we won’t be where we are now.

But some Igbo intellectuals and leaders have argued that Kanu has the fundamental human rights to…

Which fundamental human rights? When a court of law had given an order? It was not Justice Nyako speaking, it was the law of Nigeria speaking. If Kanu was dissatisfied with that ruling, the day he came out, he should have approached the appellate court where five justices would decide on his case. He is destroying business in Igbo land. The GDP of this area is going down every day. The people who used to come to Aba to buy shoes, dresses and all kinds of products and materials are no longer coming. There is no government that will leave a section of his country to be mismanaged this way.

Don’t you think that the decision to proscribe IPOB and tag its members as terrorists will further aggravate the tension in the land?

I really don’t understand why someone should sew uniforms for a group of boys under his control and start to make statements which he is not expected to say claiming that he disagrees with the law of the land. Disobedience to the law of the land itself can make you to be tagged as a terrorist because we have a law, the constitution. I am an Igbo man to the heart, I don’t care what anybody says, I don’t pretend and I have never asked any president to give me a job. Since I left office as governor, two presidents have approached me and offered to give me federal appointments but I rejected their offers. I even told one of them that I have a (court) case with you (your government) and he said, “Oh yes, I know about the case. It is political because I have read every file about the case.” The former president is the late Umaru Yar’Adua, may his soul rest in peace. I don’t want to go into further details because the case is still in court.

The argument of IPOB members is that tagging them as terrorists is a declaration of war against the Igbo because some armed herdsmen who are unleashing terror on innocent farmers were not tagged terrorists…..

Who tagged IPOB members as terrorists? Was it Buhari who tagged them as terrorists? The answer is no! Was it Buhari who proscribed them? The answer is no! It is only the people who live within the same enclave and area with them that said no, we will no longer collectively tolerate this (activities of IPOB members). The president has not said anything on this issue. The people are fond of attributing everything to Buhari. The governors went to Enugu for a meeting where the group was proscribed. In the first place, some of the governors mismanaged this issue. Go and ask Nwazurike, he is still alive; when he was doing this (Biafran agitation), there was a way we treated him. We gave him guidelines and warned him not do certain things. We told him (as governors then) that his group had the right to carry the (Biafran) flag but anytime they wanted to carry it, I usually invoked the law of the land and made it binding on them because that was the right thing expected of me as governor. You cannot be going to the market women to carry their foods and be eating. You cannot go to a woman selling akara with the little money on her, and carry her akara and eat. The boys would sometimes see a woman selling food by the roadside and decide to eat all her food without paying her. When I was governor, whenever such incident was brought to my attention, I usually applied the law instantly. The law is very clear. People should stop the sentiment, this is about saving this nation, it is about saving our people, it is about bringing back economic prosperity to the South-East.

What is your advice to President Buhari on the issue of the herdsmen attacks?

President Buhari has to come up fully with strong pronouncements on how the herdsmen should manage their cattle. He has scored high points in Boko Haram insurgency, and IPOB crisis. He should also address the herdsmen issue because these are some of the things that are causing dissatisfaction in the land. As the president, he should come out and put up a strategy on how the herdsmen could be put under check

When do you think the Igbo should produce the president of Nigeria, 2019 or 2023?

We have a sitting president in the All Progressives Congress and if he is not running again in 2019, the North should complete their eight-year tenure but I would advise President Buhari to run because he is entitled to a second term under the constitution.

Despite his state of health?

Are you his doctor? The man is very healthy. I told you then that he will come back healthier, you can see him now. He is back and healthy. People should stop spreading rumours about the president’s health. It is only at his will that he can decide not to run. If I was in Buhari’s position, I would contest again for a second term because other presidents before him did so as a right. There is nothing wrong with the man.

So, the Igbo should wait till 2023 to produce a president of Nigeria?

Yes. The Igbo will produce the president in 2023. If Buhari is not running in 2019, another Hausa man should be allowed to complete his second term. When Yar’Adua died, Jonathan came but if he had listened to the people’s advice, this situation will not be there because if I were Jonathan, I would have ruled for six years and allowed other people to run.

How do you think that the Igbo will be able to produce a president when the leaders are not speaking with one voice?

Other tribes have produced a president, so it is the turn of the Igbo too. Obasanjo was elected president in 1999 despite the fact that the Yoruba did not vote for him. He lost in his ward; I was there on the Election Day. So, any Igbo man that is widely accepted can be president of Nigeria. How did Obasanjo and Buhari become president? Are they better than any Igbo man? The answer is no! The issue is that if they know how they made Obasanjo, Yar’Adua, Jonathan and Buhari president, they should also make an Igbo man president so that there can be complete unity and we would forget about the civil war because not making an Igbo president will still remind our people that the marginalisation which started after the civil war has not ended.

Do you think that the Igbo presidency will bring about the desired development to the South-East?

There will be massive development in every part of Nigeria not only in Igbo land. The economy will change. The development will be channelled towards the entire country and we will appeal to the Igbo to make personal contributions to the development of their areas too. Make an Igbo man president today, I can assure you that the agitation will go down but first of all, let the Federal Government immediately implement the recommendations contained in the 2014 confab report. If the decisions are implemented and the Igbo have one more state like other regions, even before they produce the president, we will be moving. I call on the federal government to be magnanimous enough to present the 2014 confab report to the National Assembly for immediate implementation.

But is your appeal in line with what your party is doing with the Governor el-Rufai committee on true federalism?

What the el-Rufai committee is doing is very good by trying to get the views of Nigerians but they should also carry along the 2014 confab report. That constitutional conference was chaired by the retired Hon. Justice Kutigi, a very reputable jurist, so they should consider the recommendations in the report.

You were once quoted to have said that the Lagos IGR will drop by 70 per cent if the Igbo should withdraw their investment from the state but some people have faulted your position claiming that Lagos ports actually accounts for its prosperity. Can you clarify your position again?

No, I never said so. I quoted what somebody said when I delivered a lecture in one of the universities. I actually quoted an authority who was a special adviser to Asiwaju Bola Tinubu when he was governor. The special adviser, in a memo he sent to Tinubu said if Igbo should withdraw their investment from the state, the IGR will drop by the figure you quoted. There is no way I can say that the Igbo will withdraw their investment from Lagos. Every component of this country is very important. It is painful when I hear some people saying that they are more important than others. It is also painful to me when I hear people saying that the Hausa have nothing to contribute to the nation’s economy. It is not true. Agriculture is the most important thing that can serve as alternative to the revenue we are getting from oil. Before the oil discovery, the regions were making use of proceeds from the sale of agricultural trees which they produced to finance the Federal Government. So every tribe should see other people as important contributors to the economy too. Some people think that they are superior to others but it is not true. We should love ourselves as a nation without any impediments, respect each other’s religion and everyone should strive to say the truth. Let me tell you that international agencies operating within and outside the country were very happy with the emergence of President Buhari because they knew that the economy of Nigeria would have collapsed if he had not intervened. Look at the people we trusted with power in the past, they opened the Central Bank and looted all the money there. I keep telling the people that I will always stand on the side of truth even at the risk of my life because I am not afraid of death.

Majority of the states are not paying salaries again and Buhari has said that the governors should be held responsible for this. Do you agree with him?

In good conscience, if you are a governor collecting N1bn as security vote, without paying salary, you are a criminal. If you are a governor and you collect security vote before you pay salary, then you are not doing what is expected of you. They should pay the workers first and take the security vote later. As governor, my last security vote was N200m; it was ranging between N120m and N150m before then. So governors should make payments of salaries a priority.




CREDIT: PUNCH

'WE DON'T KNOW WHERE NNAMDI KANU IS' - MILITARY SAYS

In the aftermath of controversies over the whereabouts of the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, Nnamdi Kanu, the Defence Headquarters on Friday said it had no knowledge of his whereabouts.

The army had kept a dignified silence over the location of the IPOB boss despite allegations by his lawyer that the army knew his whereabouts or may have been killed. The IPOB leader was last seen on September 14 when clashes occurred between members of his group and soldiers on an army exercise “Operation Python Dance” in Abia State.

But Defence spokesperson , John Enenche, in an interaction with journalists in Abuja on Friday said neither the military nor any security agency can be held responsible for the missing IPOB leader.

Mr. Enenche, a major general, also denied allegations that the military raided the home of Mr. Kanu in Abia State.

“I watched the operations live. I also got first-hand information from our men on the ground. For the records, Nnamdi Kanu was never taken away by the military.”

“The military is doing their routine exercise operation I saw everything, nobody raided Kanu house. I stand to justify it not from the information I got, I was watching it live. I was monitoring it live.”

“Nobody raided his house, nobody went to ‘carry’ him, that must be very clear I saw the militancy, nobody told me,” he said.

Mr. Kanu, who is currently facing trial for alleged treason is due to appear in court on October 17 for the continuation of his trail.



The IPOB leader’s lawyer, Ifeanyi Ejiofor, in an application filed at the Federal High Court, Abuja, has asked the court to compel the army to produce Mr. Kanu in court.

The group is fighting for an independent nation of Biafra and has hpitched battles with the Nigerian security operatives in recent months. The government recently tagged them a terrorist outfit after securing a court order.

IGBO GROUPS MOBILISE SANs TO DEFEND IPOB MEMBERS

A pro-Igbo Group, Igbo National Council, says it is reaching out to lawyers, including Senior Advocates of Nigeria from the South-East, to defend arrested members of the IPOB.

INC explained that the move was based on its members’ conviction that it was legally and morally wrong for the Federal Government to proscribe IPOB as a terrorist organisation.

The president of the group, Chilos Godsent, told Saturday PUNCH in Owerri, the Imo State capital that the pro-Biafra agitators had not violated any section of the constitution, and that INC would give the arrested IPOB members maximum support.

Godsent said, “The Igbo National Council at its last National Executive Council meeting held in Owerri on Friday, September 22, 2017, among other issues, resolved to reach out to progressive lawyers of Igbo extraction, including SANs, to discuss with them on the issue of volunteering to defend members of IPOB who were arrested during the Operation python Dance II in the South-East region.

“INC was dismayed that the Federal Government, through the Attorney General of the Federation, has concluded plans to charge the alleged IPOB members for terrorism. INC notes that IPOB is not a terrorist organisation and members of IPOB have not willfully violated any section of the 1999 Constitution that guarantee the rights to peaceful assembly and the rights to form and belong to any association.

“In view of the above, INC leadership and its contact committee have started reaching out to lawyers in that respect.”

The group said it was aware that the top members of IPOB were also reaching out to many other lawyers for the same purpose and that on its own, the lawyers it had met with so far had indicated interest in defending the IPOB members arrested in the course of the struggle.

Similarly, Concerned Igbo Unity Forum said that some of its members who are lawyers have volunteered to appear in court for the arrested IPOB members on pro bono basis.

The chairman of the forum, Sixtus Nwoke, said, “There are lawyers who have volunteered to take up the case considering the general view that they are not a terrorist organisation. Our stand is to ensure the unity of the Igbo among themselves in any state or country of residence.

“We equally ensure the safety of their lives and property during precarious times such as we are experiencing now.”

UK WANTS TO KNOW ABOUT KANU'S WHEREABOUTS FROM FG

The United Kingdom has asked the Federal Government to clarify the status and whereabouts of the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, Nnamdi Kanu.

The British government said it had asked the government if the British national was alive or dead. However, it could not be immediately ascertained if the Federal Government had responded to the inquiries or not.

The Press Officer, UK high commission in Nigeria, Joe Abuku, stated that the inquiry followed reports that Kanu had been missing since September 14, 2017 when armed soldiers stormed his residence in Abia State.

“We are seeking urgent clarification from the Nigerian authorities about the status and whereabouts of Mr. Kanu, a British-Nigerian man, who has been reported missing since September 14,” Abuku stated in an email on Thursday.

Asked if the UK would strip Kanu of citizenship on account of the declaration by Nigeria that he was leading a terrorist organisation, the mission said it does not comment on individual cases.

“One of the conditions that can make the United Kingdom strip its citizen of nationality is if the person engages in a terrorist activity at home or abroad. And Kanu has dual citizenship and therefore a citizen of Nigeria and the UK,” the mission stated.

When asked if the UK supported the Nigerian government’s proscription of the IPOB, Abuku stated that the group was not a proscribed organisation under the British law.

“The Indigenous People of Biafra is not a proscribed organisation in the UK,” the mission spokesperson stressed.

However, when asked if the group was free to raise funds or hold rallies in Britain, Abuku said he would need to get an official response on that, but subsequently declined to respond to the question.

He also declined comment on whether the IPOB might be designated as a terrorist group or proscribed by the British authorities.

Abuku said, “We do not routinely comment on whether an organisation is or is not under consideration for proscription. A decision to proscribe an organisation must be based on a belief that it is concerned in terrorism as defined in the Terrorism Act 2000, and it must be proportionate.”

The United States had earlier said it did not consider IPOB a terrorist group and urged Nigerians to de-escalate tension and embrace peaceful resolution of grievances.

Spokesperson for the American Embassy in Nigeria, Russell Brooks, had said, “Within the context of unity, we encourage all Nigerians to support a de-escalation of tension and peaceful resolution of grievances. The Indigenous People of Biafra is not a terrorist organisation under US law.”

NNAMDI KANU NOT IN MILITARY CUSTODY

Authoritative sources from the Nigerian Army have said the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, Nnamdi Kanu, is not in military custody.

The sources, from the army headquarters, Abuja, and the 82 Division headquarters, Enugu State, which coordinates Operation Python Dance II, told one of our correspondents on Thursday that Kanu was not arrested or detained, as being speculated.

READ ALSO: Biafra: I hope Nnamdi Kanu will show up soon – Falana

Kanu’s lawyers on Wednesday filed a suit before the Federal High Court in Abuja praying for an order, directing the Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Tukur Buratai, to produce Kanu in court.

The lawyers, led by Ifeanyi Ejiofor, had declared Kanu missing, saying the IPOB leader was last seen after the September 14 invasion of his residence in Afara-Ukwu area of Abia State by soldiers.

But an authoritative source from the army headquarters said, “If you follow the trends of things, the army has not been talking about a proscribed group. If someone says he does not know where Kanu is, who gave him the authority to file a motion against the army?

“We don’t want to be drawn into this propaganda. For goodness sake, if we have Kanu, of what use is it if we keep quiet? We have never been secretive. Nobody prompted us before we came out to talk about Egwu Eke II starting in the South-East. Nobody prompted us before we came out to say that despite all the pressures, we were not withdrawing the operation. The exercise is still ongoing.”

Also, the source from 82 Division headquarters, Enugu, who did not want his name in print, replied our correspondent’s enquiry through a text message.

“Kanu is not with us. And I am not aware of his whereabouts,” it read.

But Kanu’s younger brother simply identified as Fine Boy, had on September 17 said that only the IPOB leader could disclose his hiding place.

READ ALSO:LAWYERS DRAG BURUTAI TO COURT OVER NNAMDI KANU

He said, “Only my brother can tell Nigerians where he is, I can’t. I don’t know why the Army should call IPOB a terrorist organisation, it is out of their desperation to arrest Nnamdi and frustrate the Biafran struggle. We have petitioned the United Nations and the European Union.

“…Nnamdi will soon disclose his current location and IPOB will also react to the proscription of the group by the South-East Governors’ Forum.”

Soldiers allegedly invaded his house on September 14.

The Director, Army Public Relations, Brig. Gen. Sani Usman, could not be reached for comment as of press time.

Meanwhile, the Chairman of the South-East caucus in the Senate, Enyinnaya Abaribe, who stood as surety for Kanu, has said he should not be held liable if Kanu does not show up on October 17, which is the next hearing.

Abaribe said this on Thursday on a Channels TV programme, Sunrise Daily, noting that the alleged invasion of Kanu’s home in Abia State by troops of the Nigerian Army, was done “18 days before Kanu is to appear in court.”

Some senators had on Tuesday in a closed-door session, reportedly lashed out at Abaribe for accepting to stand as a surety for Kanu and for meeting with the IPOB members, claiming that the senator supported IPOB activities.

Abaribe on Thursday, however, said his meeting with the IPOB members was to find, “lasting peace” to the crisis. The senator said no one could say whether Kanu was dead or alive after the army’s invasion.

He said, “One of the very unfortunate issues is that when people don’t want to address issues, they abuse or personalise issues. I stood surety for him (Kanu). Put it in perspective; he is supposed to appear in court on October 17. Then one month prior to his appearance, September 14 – clearly one month – the army now invaded his house and his village, and since then, nobody has heard from him.”

LAWYERS DRAG BURUTAI TO COURT OVER NNAMDI KANU

Lawyers, acting on behalf of the leader of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra, Nnamdi Kanu, alleged, on Wednesday, that the Biafran agitators’ arrowhead was likely to have been killed by the Nigerian Army.

The legal team, led by Mr. Ifeanyi Ejiofor, therefore, filed an originating motion, marked FHC/ABJ/CS/908/20017, before the Federal High Court in Abuja, praying for an order directing the Chief of Army Staff, Lt.-Gen. Tukur Buratai, to produce Kanu in court.

Buratai is the sole respondent to the motion.
 
Part of the 12 grounds of the motion, stated that “rampaging soldiers”, under the Chief of Army Staff’s command, allegedly invaded Kanu’s house in Afara-Ukwu Ibeku, Umuahia, Abia State, on September 14, 2017, abducted and possibly killed the IPOB leader and his other relatives in the process.

The lawyers claimed that soldiers had a direct contact with Kanu on September 14, when they allegedly invaded the IPOB leader’s house “on a murderous raid, where life and mortar bullets were fired on unarmed and defenceless populace, leaving 28 persons dead and abducting many”.

“The invading soldiers, who had direct contact with the applicant on this fateful day (September 14, 2017), should be in a position to produce the applicant before the court.

“It is either the respondent’s rampaging soldiers abducted the applicant during this raid or must have killed him in the process,” part of the grounds of the motion read.

Apart from Ejiofor, others, whose names appeared on the court paper acting as Kanu’s lawyers, are Maxwell Okpara, Chudi Igwe, Miss Chinwe Umeche, Habila Turshak, P. M. Umegborogu and Augustine Ezeokeke.

The motion is titled ‘In the matter of an application by Nnamdi Kanu for prerogative of writ of Habeas Corpus Ad Subjiciendum to command the Chief of Army Staff to produce him in court’.

The motion was anchored on 12 grounds.

Following recent confrontation between soldiers and IPOB members during ‘Operation Python Dance’ by the Nigerian Army in the South-East region, the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Abubakar Malami (SAN), had obtained an order of the Federal High Court in Abuja proscribing the group.

The proscription order has since been published in the Federal Government gazette as ordered by the court.

But IPOB had, through its lawyers, filed a motion on September 22, 2017, asking Justice Abdu Kafarati, who issued the proscription order, to reverse it on ground of alleged defects in the Federal Government’s ex parte application for the order.

In the motion filed on behalf of Kanu on Wednesday, the IPOB leader’s lawyers recalled that Kanu was first arrested on October 14, 2015 and was later arraigned alongside others before the Federal High Court in Abuja on charges bordering on his agitation for secession of a Biafra republic from Nigeria on January 11, 2016.

They noted that Kanu was still enjoying the bail granted him by Justice Binta Nyako on April 25, 2017, when on August 25, the prosecution filed an application requesting the court to revoke the bail.

They also noted that hearing in the matter had been slated to hold on October 17, but before the date, soldiers, under Buratai’s command, “violently invaded the applicant’s home in Afara-Ukwu Ibeku, Umuahia, Abia State, where scores of his relatives were brutally wounded and many killed.”

The lawyers stated as part of the grounds of the application, “The applicant, who was in the house during this bloody onslaught by the soldiers, has not been heard from or seen after this bloody attack on his home by the agents of the respondent since September 14, 2017.

“That the invading soldiers, in their desperate bid to ensure that the applicant was caught in the attack, climbed stairs to his bedroom upstairs to shoot him; walls of his bedroom were riddled with bullets.

“The invading soldiers, who had direct contact with the applicant on this fateful day (September 14, 2017), should be in a position to produce the applicant before the court. It is either the respondent’s rampaging soldiers abducted the applicant during this raid or must have killed him in the process.

“Section 40 of the Federal High Court Act empowers this court to order that a Writ of Habeas Corpus ad Subjiciendum; (A Writ directed to someone detaining another person and commanding that the detainee be brought to court) be issued on the respondent, to produce the applicant in court, particularly now his substantive criminal trial is coming up on October 17, 2017.

“The court is vested with inherent powers Under Section 6(6) (a)-(d) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 as Amended 2011) to entertain this application and grant reliefs sought herein.”

A supporting affidavit, deposed to by a lawyer in Ejiofor’s law firm, Mr. Mandela Umegborogu, quoted Kanu’s younger brother, Emmanuel Kanu, as saying, “That on September 12, 2017, the soldiers of Nigerian Army, numbering about 200, fully armed to the teeth, invaded the residential home of the applicant (Kanu) in Afara-Uwku-Ibeku Umuahia, in Abia State.”

The affidavit added that Kanu was in his bedroom when soldiers allegedly invaded his house on September 14.

It stated that the soldiers shot sporadically for 40 minutes during the alleged invasion.

“That on September 14, 2017, the Nigerian soldiers invaded the applicant’s home for the second time, unfortunately on a brutal but murderous raid that left 28 persons dead and over 48 arrested and taken away to an unknown destination,” the affidavit stated.

It stated that Kanu “has not been seen or heard from” after the alleged invasion that took place on September 14.

It stated further, “That the search so far conducted by the applicant’s siblings has not yielded any fruit as the applicant is still missing.

“That the palace of (their) aged father, housing the applicant’s apartment, inclusive of the applicant’s building, was shattered with mortar bullets.

“That 28 people were shot in and around the applicant’s compound out of which few dead bodies were left behind by the rampaging soldiers.”

It stated that the whereabouts of Kanu and his father had been unknown since the September 14 “onslaught” by the soldiers.

The document also stated that appeal had been made to the Army to release Kanu “or his body for befitting burial if he was killed” to no avail.

It stated, “That the applicant is billed to return to court for full hearing, scheduled to commence his criminal charge No: FHC/ABJ/383/2015 between F.R.N. VS NNAMDI KANU & 4 ORS, but his fate is still unknown as the soldiers have continued to hold him tenaciously.

“That the applicant has been preparing for his court case, as his pre-trial conference on the matter with his lawyers was concluded in August 2017, preparatory for a full-blown hearing to commence on October 17, 2017.”

S'EAST GOVS WILL REHABILITATE OUTLAWED IPOB MEMBERS, SAYS GOV UMAHI

The Chairman of the South-East Governors Forum and Governor of Ebonyi State, David Umahi, has said that the forum has resolved to rehabilitate and reintegrate members of the outlawed Indigenous Peoples of Biafra.

The governors, he said, decided to proscribe the activities of the outlawed group to save the lives of 12 million Igbo living in different parts of the country.

Umahi made the declaration in Ezillo, Ishielu Local Government Area of Ebonyi State on Tuesday during the activities marking the ‘2017 Ebonyi Peace Day.’

He declared that the forum had no apology for proscribing IPOB, noting that the measure was adopted to restore peace and save the lives of the people.

“We have all agreed that some of our youths, who were misled in this direction, must be reabsorbed and reintegrated and be made to do something with their hands.

“I have asked the Ministry of Economic Empowerment and Job Creation to open a register for some of our youths in this agitation, who were misled and did not understand what was going on. By my words, we are going to rehabilitate and re-integrate them into meaningful venture,” he stated.

Umahi argued that the IPOB agitation was not about insulting Mr. President or other ethnic nationalities, stressing, however, that agitation should be by peaceful process and that “the issue of marginalisation and agitation should not degenerate into self-help.”

On why the state government set aside 5th September every year as ‘Ebonyi Peace Day Celebration,’ the governor said the initiative was to commemorate the restoration of peace among the hitherto warring communities of Ezza and their Ezza Ezillo neighbours.

“Today the will of God is enthroned in the land of Ezillo and Ezza Ezillo communities. I urge the two communities to be productive so that their needs would be addressed by the government,” he said.

He said the government had set three cardinal agenda in the rehabilitation of displaced communities, namely reconciliation, rebuilding and reconstruction towards the restoration of lasting peace to the state.

“Peace shall return to Ebonyi State, other areas within the state where there is crisis, before the end of the year; areas not resolved must be resolved, “he said.

The governor said that the government had concluded arrangements to forward three peace bills to the state House of Assembly for passage into law, stating that, “until the lawmakers passed it into law, it has not come to be, but technically speaking it has come to be.”

IPOB HAIL AFENIFERE, S'WEST LEADERS FOR OPPOSING MILITARY OPERATIONS IN S'EAST

The Indigenous People of Biafra on Monday commended the apex Yoruba socio-cultural organisation, Afenifere, and Yoruba Elders Council for speaking against the “militarisation” of the South-East geopolitical zone by the Federal Government, using Operation Python Dance II.

Describing the elders as good men of history, the group said it was encouraged by their utterance.

In a statement made available to our correspondent in Awka, Anambra State by the group’s Media and Publicity Secretary, Emma Powerful, IPOB said providence and history would vindicate the just.
It thanked other groups and individuals who condemned the “invasion” of the zone and the proscription of IPOB, saying “you demonstrated rare courage and forthrightness.”

60 MEMBERS OF IPOB REMANDED IN PRISON

A court on Monday remanded 60 members of the separatist group, IPOB, in prison.

The Chief Magistrate Court sitting in Umuahia, Abia State, ordered that the accused be remanded at the Afara Federal Prisons in Aba, the Nation Newspaper reports.

The IPOB members were among those arrested in the clashes with security officials which eventually led to the secessionist group being declared a terrorist organisation.

IPOB is seeking an independent Igbo country of Biafra, while its leader, Nnamdi Kanu is currently being prosecuted for alleged treason.

After the clashes in Abia which also led to the death of a police officer and burning down of a police station, the group was proscribed by the South-east governors and alter declared a terrorist organisation by a federal court following an application by the federal government.

On Monday, the counsel to the suspects challenged the jurisdiction of the court. The suspects were arraigned for alleged conspiracy, terrorism, attempted murder, and membership of unlawful society. The case was later adjourned till October 25.

IPOB REMAINS A TERRORIST GROUP, PRESIDENCY INSISTS

Special Adviser to the President on Prosecution, Chief Okoi Obono-Obla, has described as inconsequential the recognition accorded the Indigenous People of Biafra by some foreign nations as a non-terrorist group, despite Nigeria’s recent proscription and designation of the group as a terrorist organisation.‎

Obono-Obla also disclosed that the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Abubakar Malami(SAN), would soon charge the promoters and members of the proscribed group for allegedly operating illegally in Nigeria in violation of Section 54 of the Companies and Allied Matters Act.

He maintained in a statement which he released late on Sunday that IPOB’s activities qualified it as a terrorist group as defined by the provisions of the Terrorism (Prevention) Act 2013.

The presidential aide said by its advocacy and modus of operation, IPOB terrorised, harassed or intimidated “those who do not subscribe it to its separatists ideology and ethnic bigotry before its proscription”.

He added, “So it is a terrorist organisation! This is also an organisation that was hounding and killing Nigerians in Rivers and Abia States before the military intervention!

“This is a group that was burning police stations; killing police officers, throwing bombs at military convoys, threatening to make the country ungovernable, threatening to stop governorship election in Anambra State!

“Most importantly a court of competent jurisdiction -Federal High Court has presided over by the Acting Chief Judge, Justice Abdul Kafarati upon an application filed by the Honourable Attorney General of the Federation hinged on Section 2 (1) (a) & (b) of the Terrorism (Prevention) Act granted an order proscribing IPOB! So whether EU or United States of Nigeria or any foreign country says about IPOB is immaterial , irrelevant and of no moment!”

He insisted that the designation of IPOB as a terrorist group with the backing of a court order proscribing it last week was Nigeria’s domestic affair, which foreign nations should not meddle in.

With particular reference to the European Union and the United States of America, Obono-Obla said meddling in Nigeria’s internal affair could erode the nation’s sovereignty.




He said, “I have previously said that the international community should not meddle in our internal affairs because doing that will amount to an erosion of our sovereignty!

“The EU has no business absolutely and totally with our internal matters so if EU says it does not see IPOB as a terrorist group, it does not matter as far as Nigeria is concerned.

“It is inconsequential! We all know by the definition of a terrorist organisation within the meaning of the term as defined by the provisions of the Terrorism (Prevention) Act , IPOB is a terrorist organisation! Also it by its advocacy and modus of operation it is a terrorist organisation! It used to terrorise, harassing or intimidating those who do not subscribe it to its separatists ideology and ethnic bigotry before its proscription so it is a terrorist organisation!

“I want to add that the USA may say IPOB is not a terrorist organisation by US Law because it is a registered business concern in the State of California in the United States!

“However by Nigerian law a foreign company which is not registered by the Corporate Affairs Commission by the provisions of Section 53 of the Companies and Allied Matters Act 2004 is illegal.

“And by Section 54 of the Companies and Allied Matters Act it is a criminal offence for a foreign company to operate in Nigeria without registration! So all this while IPOB was operating in Nigeria illegally!”

Security agencies unmask IPOB’s Paris account holder

Security agents have identified the Nigerian suspected to be operating the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) in Paris, France, it was learnt at the weekend.

The government last week said money was being raised from some Nigerians in the diaspora to fund IPOB.

Funds were also raised from events, including a football tournament organised in Senegal, for the banned organisation.

Funds raised from the diaspora Nigerians’ donation and other sources are remitted to an account in Paris from where it is disbursed for the organisation’s activities.

The account holder was not named at the weekend.

A source said: “Security agencies are still conducting more checks before releasing the details on the fellow running the Paris, France account on behalf of IPOB and its leader.

“When the necessary investigation is completed, the findings will be presented to the French government for appropriate action in line with the laws in France.

“These agencies will also trace other accounts in some jurisdictions where funds were remitted into the Paris account.”

The proscription of IPOB has been sealed with the Federal Government’s gazette of its ban.

This puts to rest speculations of a reversal of the decision as a result of a political solution.

With the gazetting of the proscription, the group ceases to exist by the nation’s law and the government might have ruled out dialogue with Kanu.

A top government source said: “The proscription order was gazetted by the Federal Government on Thursday. So, there is no going back on our position that the organisation remains illegal.

“Whether IPOB is registered abroad or anywhere is immaterial. The most important thing we have achieved is that the terrorist group can no longer operate in this country.

“The gazette is the climax of the presidential proclamation and the decision of the court on it.

“Any Nigerian or group associating with IPOB is doing so at a greater risk.”

Asked if the Federal Government would dialogue or negotiate with the IPOB leader, the source said: “No government will relate with a terrorist organisation. Certainly, any talk of dialogue is remote.”

Following an ex-parte motion by the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of JusticeAbubakar Malami (SAN), Acting Chief Judge of the Federal High Court Justice Abdul Kafarati, last week granted the proscription request.

He restrained “any person or group of persons from participating in any of the group’s activities”.

He ordered the AGF to ensure the publication of the IPOB proscription order in the official gazette and in two national dailies.

He ruled: “That an order, declaring the activities of the respondent – Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) – in any part of Nigeria especially in the South-East and South-South regions of Nigeria amount to acts of terrorism and illegality, is granted.”

LIST OF SOME OF THE COUNTRIES SPONSORING IPOB,

he Federal Government will be giving the French Government account details of the sponsors of terrorist group, Indigenous People of Biafra.

The Nigerian Government had through the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, said that France was the headquarters of IPOB’s funding. But the European country on Thursday said it had no knowledge of IPOB’s presence in France.

But a very senior government official said the Federal Government had reached out to France, explaining that it did not accuse the country of being the sponsors of Biafra but that a large transfer of funds were made regularly from France to IPOB in Nigeria.

It was learnt that the Federal Government had asked the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit and the Central Bank of Nigeria to compile the needed information on the sponsors and it hand it over to the French government.

The government will also write the Special Control Unit against Money Laundering, which is tasked with the mandate of supervising, monitoring and regulating Designated Non-Financial Institutions as regards compliance to Nigeria’s Anti-Money Laundering and Combating the Financing of Terrorism.

The source, who pleaded anonymity because he was not authorised by the government to speak on the issue yet, said, “The French Government has reached out to us over the IPOB matter. It said we should give it account details and any other evidence showing that France was where the majority of the money was coming from.

“So, the government has accepted that challenge and we will be instructing the NFIU, SCUML and the CBN to hand over all the details of IPOB’s funding to us in one comprehensive report which will be submitted to the French Government.

“Since IPOB has been declared a terrorist organisation by a court in Nigeria, the French Government, which claims to be against Nigeria’s break-up, is expected to give us maximum cooperation.”

According to the government other countries from which IPOB also received huge cash inflows include: Turkey, Senegal, Malaysia, Hong Kong, United Kingdom and the United States.

The operative said reports would also be given to the aforementioned countries.

He added, “Before his arrest, Nnamdi Kanu had appealed to people of Igbo extraction in some of these countries to provide him with funds which would be used in buying weapons and bringing down the Nigerian Government.

“In a video, which has even gone viral on Youtube, Kanu said he needed guns. This is not hearsay.

“We will also be writing these countries informing them of the need to ensure that IPOB’s source of funding is traced and blocked.”

IPOB IS NOT A TERRORIST ORGANISATION, SAYS U.S

The United States Government has said it does not consider the Indigenous People of Biafra a terrorist organisation.

Last week, the Federal High Court in Abuja gave a judicial backing the executive order of President Muhammadu Buhari, outlawing the group and its activities in the country.

The court granted the order to proscribe the group on Wednesday.

It declared that the activities of the group constituted acts of terrorism.  

The Federal Government also accused France and the United Kingdom of aiding IPOB activities.

The spokesman for the American Embassy in Nigeria, Russell Brooks, said on Friday that the US government does not view IPOB as a terrorist group.

He said this in response to our correspondent’s email which asked if the United States sees IPOB as a terrorist organisation.

Brooks stated further that the US was committed to Nigeria’s unity and would support a peaceful resolution of any crisis in the country.

He said, “The United States Government is strongly committed to Nigeria’s unity. Important political and economic issues affecting the Nigerian people, such as the allocation of resources, are worthwhile topics for respectful debate in a democracy.

“Within the context of unity, we encourage all Nigerians to support a de-escalation of tensions and peaceful resolution of grievances. The Indigenous People of Biafra is not a terrorist organisation under US law.”

The US embassy, however, declined to comment on whether the Federal Government had asked it to treat IPOB as a terrorist organisation and to block money sent to IPOB from the US.

Brooks also did not state the US’ position on the agitation for a Biafran state.

Speaking after the court judgment last week, the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, SAN, said the Federal Government would proceed to gazette the order proscribing the group.

IPOB DOES NOT MEAN WELL FOR IGBO, SAYS IGWE EGBUNA

The Eze Igbo in Zamfara State, Igwe Egbuna Obijiaku, has said that the agitation for secession by the Indigenous People of Biafra does not mean good for Igbo, because it was aimed at disrupting the peace and stability of the country.

He also commended the South East Governors’ Forum for outlawing the activities of the IPOB.

Obijiaku, who gave the commendation on Saturday while speaking to newsmen in Gusau, said that Igbo in Zamfara were not in support of the activities of IPOB.

He urged the Igbo community in the state to disregard the Biafra agitation.



According to him, the IPOB agitations for Biafra nation, apart from its threat to national unity, peace and stability, is also a big threat to Igbo economic stability.

“We are solidly behind our leaders and governors in this regard. We are also in support of the decision of the Forum of Igbo traditional leaders of all the 19 Northern states,” he said.

“If we look at the entire population of Igbo community, only 40 per cent are living on Igbo land. About 40 per cent are living in the Northern parts of Nigeria, almost 15 percent are living in South Western parts of the country and the remaining five per cent are living abroad.

“Therefore, to me, any agitation calling for separation from this country will not be good for Igbo. We are living in a secular country: that was how God has created us and that is how He wants us to be.

“It is very unfortunate for somebody who has not been in Nigeria over the years to just come and be calling us to join him in unlawful agitations to break peace and stability that were built over the years.

“This IPOB agitation does not mean good for Igbo. In fact, it was aimed at disrupting the peace and stability of the country,” he said.

He, therefore, urged the entire Igbo community in Zamfara to disregard such unlawful agitation and go about their normal activities.

“We should continue to live peaceably with one another, we should cooperate with security agencies and government in maintaining peace and stability in the country”, he added. He said over the past 20 years, the Igbo community had been living peacefully in Zamfara without any harassment and that they should continue to maintain it.

WHY WE POSCRIBED IPOB - SOUTH EAST GOVERNORS

The Chairman of the South-east Governors Forum and Governor of Ebonyi State, Dave Umahi, has said the forum decided to proscribe the activities of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB to stop the rising tension in the zone.

Mr. Umahi, who briefed journalists in his office in Abakaliki said the leader of IPOB, Nnamdi Kanu, was gradually losing control of the situation and his members prompting the governors to wade in to prevent further bloodshed.

He said the proscription had achieved the desired result.

He said IPOB has lost its original ideal by causing unnecessary tension and killings in the South-east which he said has affected investment drive in the region.

The governor also said that based on the evidence before him, the military did not attack IPOB members on Sunday as claimed by Mr. Kanu and that it was the IPOB members who threw bottles and stones at the military officers who were passing by.

“When you put a small fire, it can go very far and become difficult to control,” Mr. Umahi said.

“The IPOB activities were gradually getting out of the control of Nnamdi Kanu. Soldiers were passing on the way when IPOB members started throwing stones and other objects on them and it sparked off the clash between the group and the military.

“It is a shame that when this thing happened, a man called Charles Ogbu had to send phone numbers of all South-east governors, the Senate President and others and all our people could do was to be calling us to insult us. These are people who never experienced any war in their lives.”

He said the lives of northerners and all non-indigenes in the state and zone must be guaranteed at all times, warning that security agencies have been directed to deal decisively with anyone that tries to cause a breach of the peace.

“Our focus is how to save lives of every Nigerian and we believe in a united Nigeria. Lives of people are involved and we must not play politics with that,” he said.

“Anybody that wants to foment trouble must be crushed and I want security agencies to beef up security around all the non-indigenes in the state and to report to me any problem because we must maintain the peace.”

The governor called on youth to stop insulting President Muhammadu Buhari and leaders of the country as according to him, this was bad.

He also noted that the northern governors will soon visit the South-east, a visit which will also be reciprocated by the South-east governors to the North as a means of fostering unity in the country.

He said majority of the Igbos do not want secession from Nigeria but to be treated fairly and justly in the county.

“That is why we are all talking about restructuring, there is no part of this country that is not feeling marginalised somehow and that is why all the zones are setting up committees on restructuring,” the governor said.

Mr. Umahi, however, noted that injustice or marginalisation should not be a reason to talk about secession maintaining that dialogue should be the best way to resolve and redress all differences.

On operation Egwu Eke II (Python dance II), the governor said the exercise was never targeted at IPOB but intended to curb rising incidents of crime especially kidnapping and armed robbery in the state.

He noted that no one including the military expected that there will be violence as the Egwu Eke II that was staged last year was largely successful.

Heads of security agencies in the state and some principal officers of the state government attended the briefing.





The South-east Governors Forum rose from its meeting on Friday to announce the proscription of IPOB in all the five states of the zone.

They also appealed to President Muhammad Buhari to withdraw soldiers from the zone while the police carry out their constitutional duty of securing lives and property.

The meeting was also attended by Governors Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi (Enugu), Willie Obiano (Anambra) and Okezie Ikpeazu (Abia) while Rochas Okorocha of Imo was represented by his deputy.

Also in attendance were the Ohanaeze leadership led by Chigozie Ogbu, former deputy governor of Ebonyi State, who represented John Nwodo, the President General of the socio-cultural organisation.

The National Assembly members led by Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, and the GOC 82 Division of the Nigerian Army, Adamu Abubakar, were also in attendance.

Clashes between IPOB members and the security officials have led to several injuries in Abia with a police station also burnt.

IPOB wants an independent country of Biafra and says it is a non-violent organisation, although its leader, Nnamdi Kanu, recently said the group may reconsider its non-violence stance.

SOUTH-EAST SENATE CAUCUS DEFEND NNAMDI KANU, BLAST NIGERIAN ARMY

The South - East Caucus in the Senate on Tuesday criticised the ongoing military campaign in the south- eastern states codenamed Operation Python Dance .

The caucus lamented military invasion of remote villages around Umuahia, the Abia State capital , particularly the alleged incursion into the country home of the Independent Peoples of Biafra leader , Nnamdi Kanu.

Chairman of the Senate South- East Caucus , Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe , in a statement , stated that such actions suggested willful personalisation of the operation and deliberate abuse of the people’ s fundamental rights .

He said the caucus was sad that the military chose a time when the caucus had engaged the IPOB leadership and extracted commitment from them that their agitations would be strictly non -violent and in conformity with international best practices.

Abaribe said , “ We had hoped that our ongoing engagement with the group would be given a chance but here we are with a hurried military action deep into a highly populated area with high propensity for casualty , which occurrence would rather escalate the already tense situation.

“ It is more worrisome that military operation , ‘ Python Dance 2 , ’ restricted to the South - East in a peace time, has no doubt fouled the environment and sent strong signal that the region is under siege, which should not be so in a democracy .

“ We , therefore , urge extreme caution and advise the military to de - escalate the situation and choose the best operational modus that will not only guaranty the safety of Nigerians but also enhance national unity.

“ Nigeria is not at war , people are only exercising their constitutional and universally guaranteed rights , so far they are carrying on in a manner that has never given room to violence which could warrant a wholesale military expedition.”

See What IPOB Man & Lady Were Spotted Driving Today After Visiting Nnamdu Kanu

These people won't kill me.A man named Nwaiwu Chiukwuebuka was spotted today alongside with a lady driving this after IPOB visit to Nnamdi Kanu.He wrote.....
'We are using every means possible to propagate this Gospel, still on our way back home'.