Nnamdi Kanu Speaks From Prison.

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.


Detained leader of Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, Nnamdi Kanu in court, yesterday.
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/

Lolz

LOL. Keep wailing.
#SayNoToBiafra

This guy will soon silent

They kill u or what .... It's because u ain't kill very ni ( English murder)

What's gonna be is gonna be.

This mad man should just go and die in a gutter

[size=18pt] Que sera sera


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Tallesty1:
What's gonna be is gonna be.

Hope the man is among those that would be willing to lay down his life

When he is saying they would kill us I hope he is among those and not just children of other people

babyfaceafrica:
Lolz

[size=18pt]

He who laugh last, laugh best.

[/size]



Lalasticlala, obinoscopy

raumdeuter:
Hope the man is among those that would be willing to lay down his life

When he is saying they would kill us I hope he is among those and not just children of other people

He's already in the hands of killers.

Talk is cheap...
Instead of telling youths to learn skills that'll be useful to the society, he's giving them morale to die..well anyways that's their business let them not just come close to C.Rivers state...we'll rather work than engage in aimless protests.

Long live the Federal Republic of Nigeria!!

kanu Eiya!! biafra is practically unrealistic!

Yes we will kill and kill you all to oblivion till you are no longer in existence on the surface of the earth..........IPOD SCUMS.

Us? We? Is he for real?
Kanu u mean u don't know that you are now alone in this mess? Your fellow agitators are going on with their normal businesses and u still think there's a we?
That's pathetic. It hurts to be the last to know that the locks of the door has bin changed.

I thought they said this guy has been broken and is now remorseful.
He definitely didn't sound broken to me.

firstly, e no get anybody way Biafra help. and even she is granted her independence, she will still remain poor and underdeveloped like all black nations-cos d problem is d blacks' minds not tribe.

secondly, Kanu will die 50 times over and his death will not cause even the formation of new colony by termites.

EroticAngelina:
This mad man should just go and die in a gutter

Are my eyes deceiving me or something?? Did you just day that??

Yes, the end of 31st century.

Iroh88:
Are my eyes deceiving me or something?? Did you just day that??

yes I did

EroticAngelina:
This mad man should just go and die in a gutter

does he look like a mad man to you
Stop talking like a child here ,go to romance and comments, you don't belong here.

Miss erotical

EroticAngelina:


yes I did

you look like a doll. i so want to squish that your tiny nose.

Masterclass32:
I thought they said this guy has been broken and is now remorseful.

He definitely didn't sound broken to me.

you dey mind propaganda

Nnamdi kanu spot on. You have started it and God will definitely help us to finish it.
No matter what happened in the zoo, some animals must be free from zombies.

IGBOPRINCE:
you dey mind propaganda

Hehe ... No mind them. Talk cheap die. And now that naira's worth don decrease wella, talk is even cheaper.

The bitter truth is unless there is a jailbreak or creation of biafra ,the chances of nnamdi kanu leaving prison is totally,absolutely and remotely slim .

EroticAngelina:


yes I did

Don't get me wrong, but whatever happened to you?? You had their back 100% in the past. Is this borne out of some personal bad experience or you genuinely despise the course he charts??

IGBOPRINCE:
Nnamdi kanu spot on. You have started it and God will definitely help us to finish it.
No matter what happened in the zoo, some animals must be free from zombies.

Which God?? Chukwu Okike Abiama or Jesus Christ whom Kanu says is an Idol??

Iroh88:
Don't get me wrong, but whatever happened to you?? You had their back 100% in the past. Is this borne out of some personal bad experience or you genuinely despise the course he charts??

ur mistaken. I support my tribe Igbo, buh I never supported and will never support Biafra.
maybe its someone else imitating me with another moniker or something, buh I never supported the idea of Biafra.
And frankly, I'm so disappointed in this man leading the Biafra campaign