IPOB leader Kanu writes EU Parliament, explains reason for agitations

The leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) Nnamdi Kanu has stated again that the ill treatment dished out to him by past governments especially that of President President Muhammadu Buhari-led All Progressive Congress (APC) is responsible for aggravated agitations of IPOB.

Kanu who revealed that much in a paper he presented to the European Union, EU, Parliament on Tuesday, said that it has become the order of the day for the administration of Buhari to prioritize crushing assertions of Biafra identity.

He said; “After the Nigeria Biafra Civil war, Biafrans slowly rebuilt their world, but as far as Nigeria was concerned, they were not and never had been Biafrans, they were Nigerians from South east or Igbo-speaking Nigerians.”

Kanu further stated that the “Biafran war was airbrushed out of the Nigerian consciousness. Biafrans could only whisper about their loss. Joining the global Biafran diaspora was one option for those who could get out of the country; other remained in Biafra land, their Biafran identity amongst themselves, undiminished.”

He added that “Nigeria leaders particularly the present administration of Buhari continues to prioritize crushing assertions of Biafra identity has been the order of the day as even peacefully commemorating the war risks arrest, detention prohibited ill treatment or being shot”.

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The IPOB leader alleged that “in recent years the Nigerian state authorities have conducted three orchestrated campaigns against Biafrans, and the three Operation Python Dance military operations have been battles targeted against the Biafrans, the first being in 2016 and the second in 2017 and the third that is ongoing, all designed to undermine calls for Biafra self determination.

“Operation Python Dance campaigns are laden with intimidation, serious and systemic human rights violations carried out by the state with impunity, and IPOB which is a voice for Biafrans for self determination, a non violent group being always targeted for destruction.

“It is the determination of the IPOB to ensure self determination by calling for referendum that the Buhari led Nigerian government decided to brand it as a terrorist organization, a proclamation the EU, the United Kingdom and United States of America have all rejected,” he said.

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