A pro-Biafra leader whose arrest sparked a wave of protests across
Nigeria's southeast has told AFP from jail he is a "prisoner of
conscience" and vowed to realise his dream of an independent state.

The head of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) group, Nnamdi
Kanu, is accused by the state of "propagating a secessionist agenda"
with the intention to "levy war against Nigeria".

Kanu, who also runs the London-based Radio Biafra, is facing charges
of treasonable felony, managing an unlawful society and illegally
shipping radio equipment into the country.

He has been in custody since his arrest in October, despite being
granted bail, and denied all charges.

His arrest and continued detention has made him a figurehead for his
supporters, whose repeated marches in the southeast have increasingly
led to clashes with the police.

"Biafra has come to stay," Kanu told AFP in a text message via his
brother, Prince Emmanuel Kanu, who met him on Thursday in Kuje
prison on the outskirts of Nigeria's capital Abuja.

"They will kill us but by the end Biafra will come," the 48-year-old
added. "I am a prisoner of conscience and killing unarmed Biafran
protesters is a crime against humanity."

- 'Third-class citizens' -

A previous unilateral declaration of an independent Republic of Biafra
in 1967 led to a brutal civil war that left more than one million dead
in nearly three years of fighting.

Forced to surrender and chastened by war, dreams of a separate state
for the ethnic Igbo group -- the third largest in the country -- waned.
But Kanu's arrest and detention has galvanised support for the Biafra
movement among young people who never knew the horrors of war
and have little to lose in fighting for a better life.

Today the former regional power is impoverished, with dilapidated
infrastructure and high unemployment fuelling resentment against the
federal government.

"We have been failed in so many ways," Kanu said, describing Igbos as
"third class citizens", echoing many in the region who say they are
still being punished for the civil war.

Kanu, who has described Nigeria as a "zoo" which "has to come to
an end", was a relative unknown before his arrest.

But President Muhammadu Buhari, facing security threats from Boko
Haram in the northeast and an uneasy peace in the oil-producing
south, has said Kanu poses a threat to Nigeria's fragile unity.

In December, a finger-wagging Buhari said Kanu committed
"atrocities" against Nigeria, adding "there's a treasonable felony
against him and I hope the court will listen to the case".

- Police crackdown -

Dressed in an outfit of pristine white and sporting a neat salt-and-
pepper beard, Kanu last appeared in public at an Abuja court Tuesday,
arriving in handcuffs and flanked by prison officers.

His lawyer spent the bulk of the afternoon fighting a state application
to have some proceedings held behind closed doors.

"When people are refused access to the court, I ask myself are the
defendants actually condemned before they are heard?" said Chuks
Muoma, warning against a "secret trial."

The prosecution alleges Kanu was running an armed group with ritual
baptisms and young men conscripted as "Biafran soldiers".

Kanu's half-sister, Tonia Kanu, said the current response to the
protests was only worsening the situation.

After the judge adjourned Kanu's case until February 19, Tonia
received reports that police had shot dead protesters in the southeast
city of Aba.

A day later, police confirmed two protesters were killed, with 21
IPOB members arrested.

"People are being killed every day just because of peaceful protest. It's
too bad," Tonia told AFP.

She flicked through her Facebook feed on her smart phone to show
gory photos of dead protesters and a coffin covered with the Biafran
flag -- red, black and green with a yellow rising sun.

"The violence is to scare people, for them not to be serious," she
said. "But the more you kill them the more they multiply."


http://www.vanguardngr.com/2016/02/will-kill-us-end-biafra-will-come-says-pro-biafra-leader-kanu/

So what are you going to do about it.....keep wailing to NL or start those famous marches again....

This is exact word he said the first day I listened to him that send mixed feeling to me.
And it is plain truth, do it peacefully, they will kill you, keep quiet and say nothing they kill our people.

lol if u kill dem dey will multiply y not if u kill us we will multiply. Because her life is precious. And doz people kanu insult all d tym calling black baboons. So their lives are not important than yours. I laugh in Spanish.

Cownu nmumundi

Awon Omo INA !!! KANU don start again

There is something this dudes dont understand and that is, you can never kill an ideology with gun... You never wonder why you kept on killing this people and more and more are coming out, are you not ashamed that you position and circled your coward army that ran away from boko haram, around unarmed protesters who are rightfully and legally exercising their human right with the aim of shooting and killing them for pleading and praying, oh their mission was acomplished and buhari is happy ..............
They will kill us, they will injure us but at the end the land of the rising sun will rise again... You can take that to the bank.

Nnamdi Kanu the scammer forming Mandela since Oct 2015 and motivating his zombies from the dungeon till eternity.

They should start one in Bakassi I'm sure all Nigerians if not the world would sympathies. That would be a just insurrection, not one in Nigeria which, when one looks at things objectively, casts Biafra as instigators and Nigeria the victim since all love Igbos and bare no true ill-will. Even the Bifrans indiscreetly acknowledge that Nigerians love Igbos. For one thing, the separatists continually claim youroba come on their threads to argue with them not to leave Nigeria for example.

it is very simple. you guys will need the full support of your Igbo governors and politicians, who are part of the looters and enjoying their billions. i bet you, they fear death pass anything. try them!