Biafra: Peter Obi asks Nigerian government to release Nnamdi Kanu

A former governor of Anambra State, Mr. Peter Obi has called on the federal government to release Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).

Obi said there was need for the Nigerian government to change its ‘hardline posture and yield to the persistent clamour” by releasing the IPOB leader from detention.

Kalu was last year arrested by the DSS for leading a secessionist group.

Speaking with journalists in Enugu on Thursday, Obi said the federal government ought to engage the Biafra activists in dialogue as that was the only means the agitation could be resolved.

Biafra: Police arrest 12 IPOB members for threatening Enugu traders over planned protest

The Enugu State Police Command on Monday arrested about 12 people alleged to be members of pro-Biafra group, the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, over threat to attack traders who refuse to join its coming protest.

A statement by the Commands spokesperson, SP Ebere Amaraizu, said the suspected IPOB members threatened to deal with any trader who opens for business from Tuesday, today, stressing that all traders must stay indoors in solidarity with the group.

IPOB had announced its plan to carry out a mass protest all over the world against the continued incarceration of its leader, Nnamdi Kanu on September 23 2016.

However, Amaraizu in the statement said, the suspects were apprehended while addressing traders in Ogbete Main Market in the state, adding that upon completion of investigation, they will be charged to court.

The statement reads, “No fewer than twelve suspected members of a group identified as indigenous people of Biafra (IPOB) were on 19/9/16 in the afternoon nabbed by the security operatives of the Enugu state police command who acted on intelligence information gathered about the said group in relation to its activity.

“Suspects were nabbed inside the popular ogbete market of Enugu state as they allegedly went into the market with public address to threaten and inflict fears on the members of the public precisely the marketers not to come to market from 20/9/16 and that if anyone is seen that the person will be dealt with by the group. The operatives arrested the suspects as the alleged threat announcement was being carried out.

Amaraizu disclosed that items recovered from the suspects includes, “21 handsets of different types, various leaflets in which some of them reads thus: IPOB FOR THE BETTERMENT OF YOUR CHILDREN AND THAT OF YOURSELF, PLEASE SIT AT HOME ON 23/9/16,THERE WILL BE NO WORK,NO SCHOOL,NO BUSINESS,NO MARKET, FREE NNAMDI KANU, FREE BIAFRA, ALL HAIL BIAFRA.”

Other items recovered include, “flags suspected to be that of the group with their insignia, public address systems, one wireless microphone. Suspects are helping the operatives in their investigations and will soon be charged to court,” Amaraizu said.

The command, however, reiterates its determination to safeguard members of the state, saying anyone caught going against the law, “will be made to face the full wrath of the law.”

IPOB: Another faction emerges, sacks Kanu, tripob

The crisis rocking the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), took a new turn yesterday as another faction which goes by the name Reformed Indigenous People of Biafra (RE-IPOB) emerged.
Two days ago, The Rebranded Indigenous People of Biafra (TRIPOB) emerged and threatened to burn the Biafra flag publicly on October 1
Spokesman for the new group, Ikemba Biafra, disclosed that it has sacked the IPOB led by the detained Director of Radio Biafra, Nnamdi Kanu, and the Chima Philip Effiong Osuji-led TRIPOB,  claiming that both groups no longer have the right to speak for Biafra.
It alleged that Kanu has lost touch with realities of Biafra while TRIPOB has nothing to offer.
While promising to disclose their leader on Monday, August 29, 2016, it advised all pro-Biafran agitators to remain peaceful. It also warned security agents to stop molesting Biafra activists.
“Both IPOB and TRIPOB have been sacked; they should no longer speak for the Biafran people. They are the same outfit and have nothing to offer Biafra,” the spokesman said. “We warn that if Nnamdi Kanu, IPOB  and the so-called TRIPOB  continue their antics, RE-IPOB will be forced to make public the sponsors of the two groups. RE-IPOB will not accede to the burning of the Biafran flag as the sacked TRIPOB planned. The Biafran flag is sacred to Biafrans.”
The statement added, however, that RE-IPOB is open to dialogue if the Nigerian government is sincere about ending the protracted agitations for an independent state of Biafra, and warned that the group would not tolerate any insincerity from the government.
“If the Federal Government is sincere in its dialogue with RE-IPOB, then the Biafran flag can be exchanged with the Nigerian flag in the presence of President Muhammadu Buhari, the National Security Adviser, Director of State Security and the Elders of Biafra. If the dialogue is fruitful; then a peace treaty and a ‘no victor no vanquished tree’ will be planted at Gakem where the first shot of the Nigerian Civil war started and at Amichi, Nnewi where the formal cessation of hostilities of the war began.”
Meanwhile, IPOB spokesman, Emma Powerful, said the group is intact, strong and determined to continue with the struggle for the restoration of state of Biafra.
In a statement yesterday, he said there was nothing like splinter groups, alleging that it was the Federal Government and its security agencies out to deceive the general public.
According to the statement: “The quite amusing effort by the security agents to create the impression, that their recent laughable creation called the Reformed IPOB, is a faction of the great, indefatigable IPOB, it is a confirmation that they have finally run into a cul de sac.
“They have clearly run out of ideas, they are at their wit’s end, their stubborn refusal to let our people go has landed them in a tight corner, their attempt to create a sponsored faction is proof, they don’t know what else to do. We will not dignify their latest attempt with a response.”
We merely join citizens of the world as they laugh their hearts out. With this misadventure, federal government and the security agents have even lost their would be convert.
“They failed in their attempt to use so called MEND and their own creation, Reformed Avengers to cause any spilt in the Niger Delta Struggle. Resorting to the same idea here, simply confirms that they are confused, frustrated and defeated”.
“We wonder what they will do next, as this latest antic will surely pop like a ballon. The power of truth has set the oppressors running helter-shelter. As all past leaders frantically troop to the Villa daily to deliver grave warnings privately, the oppressor defiantly refuses to do the needful. This last ditch effort to create a false impression of division amongst our ranks has already failed, like all other unintelligent antics before it”.