IPOB refutes Umahi’s Kanu release negotiations claim, calls it “reckless, contemptuous” propaganda
The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has described as “reckless and contemptuous” a report quoting the Minister of Works, David Umahi, as claiming that negotiations are going on at the moment for the release of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, the group’s detained leader.
Calling the report “laughable propaganda, obviously orchestrated by the same oppressive government that criminally abducted and extraordinarily renditioned him from Kenya,” IPOB accused the FG of resorting to gimmicks in the handling of the controversial Nnamdi Kanu case, insisting that for former Governor Umahi to claim a non-existent negotiation is ongoing “is nothing short of an insult—both to Kanu’s person and to the millions of Biafrans whose hopes he embodies.”
“Let it be made abundantly and unequivocally clear (that) there is no negotiation whatsoever that involves Mazi Nnamdi Kanu accepting any so-called “conditions” from the Nigerian government. None. Absolutely none,” the pro-Biafra group declared.
“Mazi Nnamdi Kanu is not a political mercenary. He is not a job seeker. He is not a saboteur looking for rehabilitation. He is a freedom fighter whose only “condition” is this: A UN-supervised referendum or plebiscite for the people of Biafra to determine their future. That is the only acceptable platform for any discussion—not some half-baked “negotiations” being peddled in the media by political errand boys.”
IPOB recalled that Kanu has been detained illegally for nearly seven years, five of them allegedly in solitary confinement, enduring inhumane conditions in the DSS dungeon.
“He lost his parents, both of whom were laid to rest amid military invasion and trauma.
He has suffered torture, physical abuse, and humiliation—all for daring to speak truth to power and demand justice for his people,” IPOB agonized, adding that the self-determination group’s leader “has been subjected to multiple amended charges, secret trials, and judicial terrorism, and yet he remains unbroken.”
In a statement issued Tuesday (yesterday, July 8) by its Media and Publicity Secretary, Comrade Emma Powerful, the pro-Biafra group wondered why “such a man who has sacrificed everything would now grovel for release under ridiculous “conditions.”
”If Mazi Nnamdi Kanu were amenable to compromise or cowardice, he would have bowed years ago. The very idea of attaching “conditions” to his release is a grotesque insult to the memory of those who have died, to his lifelong conviction, and to the cause of Biafra,” IPOB stated.
“Let us also remind Nigeria and her stooges that Simon Ekpa, who once arrogated to himself some phantom ‘Biafran government in exile’, publicly recanted in a Finnish court (his claim to being the Biafran) “Prime Minister”, (describing himself as ) just a content creator. This speaks volumes about who is truly committed to the cause and who is in it for clout and chaos.”
Insisting that nothing would make Mazi Kanu drop his agitation for the restoration of Biafra, IPOB noted that its leader has gone too far in the pro-Biafra campaigns to recant now, pointing out that “his blood, bones, and spirit are intertwined with the Biafran cause.”
“He is a generational figure, a man who comes once in a thousand years. Any hope that he will abandon the struggle is delusional,” the group stressed.
“We, therefore, warn David Umahi and his ilk to desist from peddling lies and false hopes. Mazi Nnamdi Kanu’s freedom is non-negotiable and must be based on justice, not manipulation. And the only path forward is a referendum, supervised by the United Nations—nothing more, nothing less.
“The Nigerian state is compounding its own crisis by detaining Mazi Nnamdi Kanu illegally. Let them be reminded that continued injustice only breeds resistance.”
