Biafra: Finally, IPOB Leader Reveals How He Escaped Nigeria

The Leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, has revealed how he escaped operatives of the Nigeria Army during the “Operation Python Dance II” in 2017.

Naija News reports that miltary personnel had stormed the pro-Biafra activist residence in Afaraukwu, Umuahia, in Abia State to effect his arrest but Kanu managed to escape.

Narrating his ordeal, the IPOB leader said after the attack at his residence he went to Azumiri in the coastal area of Abia State from where he found his way to the Republic of Benin, Togo, Ghana, Ivory Coast before landing in Senegal.

He disclosed that he had to move through creeks before finding himself in the Republic of Benin, adding that it took him over a year before he found his way into Israel after escaping Nigeria.

The IPOB leader also revealed that he had to hide during his movement through the African countries so as to escape being caught by security agencies.

“We were able to rent a boat on the coast. We left from a small town in Abia, Azumiri, an unobtrusive place where the Nigerian authorities might not have thought to look,” Nnamdi Kanu was quoted by Sun.

“We planned to go to the Republic of Benin, just west of Nigeria. For 14 days we travelled in dangerous seas in a small boat with an outboard motor.

“The Atlantic off that coast is heavy, stormy, and treacherous; on more than one occasion waves threatened to swamp our little craft.

“I was still gravely injured and in need of constant medical attention. At one point we put ashore to find ice to keep the medication I needed chilled. It was a dangerous time. I stayed hidden in a room while my companions went foraging for supplies.

“From Benin, I travelled by road to Senegal, a distance of nearly 2,000 kilometres. Once in Senegal, I was able to make arrangements to travel to Israel. None of these journeys was easy.

“I was still in pain and the threat from Nigerian agents abroad never went away. When we stopped to rest on the road, I couldn’t go out.

“My world was shrunk to a room with a window, and sometimes not even that. I might as well have been in prison.

“Benin, Togo, Ghana, Ivory Coast, all the countries I had to pass through rely economically on Nigeria, their governments corrupt enough to arrest me and send me back. I had to stay silent, unknown.

“I couldn’t even tell my wife or family where I was, just in case they became targets. It was agonising to realise that they didn’t know if I was dead or alive.

“Israel was a haven for me, but it took over a year to get there, and only then did I feel confident enough to let my fellow IPOB family members and immediate family know I was safe.”