The head of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) group, Nnamdi Kanu has<\/p>\n
stated that \u201cBiafra has come to stay\u201d despite his incarceration.<\/p>\n
Kanu, a pro-Biafra leader whose arrest sparked a wave of protests across
\nNigeria\u2019s southeast has told AFP from jail he is a \u201cprisoner of
\nconscience\u201d and vowed to realise his dream of an independent state.<\/p>\n
The pro-Biafran is accused by the federal government of \u201cpropagating a
\nsecessionist agenda\u201d with the intention to \u201clevy war against Nigeria\u201d.<\/p>\n
Kanu, who also runs the London-based Radio Biafra, is facing charges of
\ntreasonable felony, managing an unlawful society and illegally shipping
\nradio equipment into the country.<\/p>\n
He has been in custody since his arrest in October, despite being granted
\nbail, and denied all charges.<\/p>\n
His arrest and continued detention has made him a figurehead for his
\nsupporters, whose repeated marches in the southeast have increasingly led
\nto clashes with the police.<\/p>\n
\u201cBiafra has come to stay,\u201d Kanu told AFP in a text message via his
\nbrother, Prince Emmanuel Kanu, who met him on Thursday in Kuje prison on
\nthe outskirts of Nigeria\u2019s capital Abuja.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey will kill us but by the end Biafra will come,\u201d the 48-year-old
\nadded. \u201cI am a prisoner of conscience and killing unarmed Biafran
\nprotesters is a crime against humanity.\u201d
\n\u2013 \u2018Third-class citizens\u2019 \u2013<\/p>\n
A previous unilateral declaration of an independent Republic of Biafra in
\n1967 led to a brutal civil war that left more than one million dead in
\nnearly three years of fighting.<\/p>\n
Forced to surrender and chastened by war, dreams of a separate state for
\nthe ethnic Igbo group \u2014 the third largest in the country \u2014 waned.<\/p>\n
But Kanu\u2019s arrest and detention has galvanised support for the Biafra
\nmovement among young people who never knew the horrors of war and have
\nlittle to lose in fighting for a better life.<\/p>\n
Today the former regional power is impoverished, with dilapidated
\ninfrastructure and high unemployment fuelling resentment against the
\nfederal government.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have been failed in so many ways,\u201d Kanu said, describing Igbos as
\n\u201cthird class citizens\u201d, echoing many in the region who say they are still
\nbeing punished for the civil war.<\/p>\n
Kanu, who has described Nigeria as a \u201czoo\u201d which \u201chas to come to an end\u201d,
\nwas a relative unknown before his arrest.<\/p>\n
But President Muhammadu Buhari, facing security threats from Boko Haram in
\nthe northeast and an uneasy peace in the oil-producing south, has said
\nKanu poses a threat to Nigeria\u2019s fragile unity.<\/p>\n
In December, a finger-wagging Buhari said Kanu committed \u201catrocities\u201d
\nagainst Nigeria, adding \u201cthere\u2019s a treasonable felony against him and I
\nhope the court will listen to the case\u201d.
\nPolice crackdown \u2013<\/p>\n
Dressed in an outfit of pristine white and sporting a neat salt-and-pepper
\nbeard, Kanu last appeared in public at an Abuja court Tuesday, arriving in
\nhandcuffs and flanked by prison officers.<\/p>\n
His lawyer spent the bulk of the afternoon fighting a state application to
\nhave some proceedings held behind closed doors.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen people are refused access to the court, I ask myself are the
\ndefendants actually condemned before they are heard?\u201d said Chuks Muoma,
\nwarning against a \u201csecret trial.\u201d<\/p>\n
The prosecution alleges Kanu was running an armed group with ritual
\nbaptisms and young men conscripted as \u201d soldiers\u201d.<\/p>\n
Kanu\u2019s half-sister, Tonia Kanu, said the current response to the protests
\nwas only worsening the situation.<\/p>\n
After the judge adjourned Kanu\u2019s case until February 19, Tonia received
\nreports that police had shot dead protesters in the southeast city of Aba.<\/p>\n
A day later, police confirmed two protesters were killed, with 21 IPOB
\nmembers arrested.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople are being killed every day just because of peaceful protest. It\u2019s
\ntoo bad,\u201d Tonia told AFP.<\/p>\n
She flicked through her Facebook feed on her smart phone to show gory
\nphotos of dead protesters and a coffin covered with the Biafran flag \u2014
\nred, black and green with a yellow rising sun.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe violence is to scare people, for them not to be serious,\u201d she said.
\n\u201cBut the more you kill them the more they multiply.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The head of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) group, Nnamdi Kanu has stated that \u201cBiafra has come to stay\u201d despite his incarceration. Kanu, a pro-Biafra leader whose arrest sparked…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":46033,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-46478","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusive"],"yoast_head":"\n