Igbo Group Blasts Nnamdi Kanu Over 2019 Election Comments

Posted by African Examiner Featured, Latest Headlines, News Tuesday, October 23rd, 2018

By Ignatius Okpara, Enugu

(AFRICAN EXAMINER) – A body, operating under the banner of South-East Renewal Group (SERG) has lambasted runaway leader of proscribed Indigenous people of Biafra IPOB, Nnamdi Kanu, for declaring that there will be no election in South- Eastern Nigeria which he claimed to be Biafra land in 2019.

They however, urged the people of the area to ignore the statement which according to them, is a joke that shouldn’t be taken seriously.

The IPOB leader, who is facing treason charge in Nigeria, had on Sunday resurfaced in Jerusalem, the state of Israel where he made a broadcast, and vowed not to return to the Federal High Court in Abuja, where he was standing trial before escaping from the country.

Kanu, described Nigeria as a zoo during the broadcast which was aired via Radio Biafra.

He said: “IPOB will liberate Biafra and we will not take part in any election until we get a referendum, and this is not negotiable, we will achieve this by every necessary means, we thank Israel for all the contributions they made to IPOB.”

But in a swift reaction to the controversial broadcast on Monday, via a statement, National president of SERG, Charles Mbani, said it was most unfortunate that Kanu was back to cause trouble for people of South-East of Nigeria, who have spent the last one year re-building confidence with their neighbours in their bid to repair the damages caused by him and his Biafra agitators .

The group stated that Nnamdi Kanu, and the faction of IPOB that he leads, do not speak for the Igbo as a people.

According to Mbani “His utterances are at variance with the belief of the people of the South-East Nigeria, who are cultured, have maximum regards for Nigerians of other ethnic stocks, believe in the unity of Nigeria while they continue to clamour for restructuring that will promote equity, respect constituted authority and institutions and will never descend low to the point of disparaging other human beings.

“The annals have recorded it that Nnamdi Kanu is a coward, who incited promising Igbo youths to throw away their lives literarily and figuratively. He threw the entire South-East into confusion and pocketed the money raised from suffering Igbo masses only for him to escape when the people had erroneously thought he had something in stock for them.

“It is the height of insult to the Igbo sensibility for him to think that putting up this charade from the Holy Land will fool Ndi Igbo another round. If he is broke and wants to use this latest performance to finance his drug addicted life, he should have a rethink and look for honest work to pay his bills.

“We strongly believe that his desperation for money has made him team up with those that are out to frustrate the Igbo agenda and interest.

“We say this because it is curious that Kanu had hidden for so long as a common criminal only for him to turn up at a time when the political fortunes of the South East are improving with the nomination of one of our own, Mr. Peter Obi as a Vice Presidential candidate in next year’s election.

“SERG hereby categorically place Nnamdi Kanu, IPOB and any miscreant that buys into the poisonous ideology they promote that not only will election hold in the South-East, but that people will also come out to exercise their voting rights without being molested.

“Igbo will mobilize to ensure this chance is not lost, certainly not in this lifetime. On the other hand, at the end of the General Elections, which would hold everywhere in a united Nigeria, Kanu would have proven beyond doubt that he is a liar and an utter symbol of falsehood that is at best treated as a pariah.”

SERG further stressed that Igbo youths should be warned by this development, adding that nothing to be gained from supporting terrorist and separatist ideologies as the only region to have allowed that in the country is today full of regrets.

“We should rather continue to support the federal government, irrespective of the ethnic group of the person that occupies the office. Igbo youths, leaders and organizations must also apologize to the Nigerian Army that was wrongly accused of killing Kanu when in reality the coward ran away from the country on his volition.” the group declared.