Nnamdi Kanu: IPOB Is Not A Violent Group – Ozekhome

Constitutional lawyer, Mike Ozekhome (SAN) has said the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) is not a violent group as being portrayed by the Federal Government.

He stated this on Wednesday while delivering a lecture at the 11th Zik’s lecturer series held at the Nnamdi Azikwe University in Awka, Anambra State.

Ozekhome said it was the security agents who attacked and killed many IPOB members in Afara Ukwu, Umuahia, the home country of the leader of the group, Nnamdi Kanu.

He asserted that Kanu is not a separatist but a self-determination agitator, stressing that he is fighting a self-determination course that is globally recognized.

The lawyer, therefore, begged President Muhammadu Buhari to release Kanu, adding that his protracted detention would further aggravate the insecurity in the South East.

He said: “Nnamdi Kanu is not a separatist, he is fighting a self-determination course that is globally recognised. IPOB didn’t start violent, it was peaceful until September 14 when the army invaded Kanu’s home.

“Let me seize this opportunity to beg Mr. President, on bended knees, without prejudice, to release Nnamdi Kanu. We’re not saying he should subvert justice. What will bring peace to the region is not his continued detention.

“IPOB is not a violent group, it is the Federal Government and security agents who went and attacked them and killed many on Afara Ukwu, Umuahia where Kanu escaped by whiskers.”

Ozekhome described as laughable claims that Nigeria was indivisible, saying those with such claims should better learn from the breakaway Republic of Russia, Ukraine Central Asia, among others.

He regretted that successive leaderships had taken the nation’s unity, indivisibility, and indissolubility for granted, stressing the indices that guarantee unity must be nurtured.

He said: “I heartily guffaw at times when I hear Nigerian leaders mouth moral platitudes and ineffective liberal disquisitions about the indivisibility and indissolubility of Nigeria.

“I roar with laughter, because, old Russia made the same historical mistake. It was forced to dissolve on December 26, 1991, by declaration No. 142 – H of the Soviet the Republic of the Supreme Soviet.

“We must be careful to think that Nigerian is indivisible. We must nurture those indices that guarantee unity. No right-thinking Nigerian can fault Chinua Achebe ascertain that the problem of Nigeria is leadership.”