Nnamdi Kanu, leader of IPOB
Fugitive leader of Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, has caused a stir in Nigeria with his “I am coming back with hell” message which was the highpoint of his public broadcast from his new abode in Jerusalem.
Aso Rock insiders said the Presidency was miffed at the sudden appearance of Kanu and his growing boldness. Kanu’s broadcast was seen as a clear affront on the Buhari government. “The President was more worried by the embarrassment he brings on the nation than his empty threats”, a source told our reporter.
On social media, Kanu has elicited both positive and negative responses with some asking him to take a revenge on the operators of the nation’s military system whom they blamed for the IPOB leader’s ordeal. But some respondents described him as a renegade who should be repatriated to the country and tried for exposing young Igbo sons and daughters to danger even death.
Kanu had said in his broadcast on Sunday: “I have returned full-time and I am coming home and I will bring hell with me.” He demanded from the Nigerian government to set a date for a referendum on Biafra.
“We will not relent till referendum is conducted. We stand for the truth. It’s referendum or nothing else,” he intoned.
He thanked the governments of the United States and Germany for not accepting that IPOB is a terror group, an obvious reference to the branding of IPOB as a terror group by Nigerian government which failed to fly among some world powers.
“They are doing all they can to hold us down but we are still here. They fabricate falsehood.
“IPOB is very special. The largest black movement in the world,” he claimed.
Kanu has a large followership and sympathisers across Nigeria. Femi Fani-Kayode, a former aviation minister, and an open admirer of Kanu said on Saturday that he received a call from “my brother” (Kanu) and that they are working together to remove President Muhammadu Buhari come 2019.
“We have agreed to work together to VOTE Buhari out”, he tweeted on his handle @realFFK on Saturday.
The IPOB leader is facing charges of treasonable felony at the Federal High Court in Abuja. Justice Binta Nyako on May 5, 2017, granted him bail on health grounds and adjourned the matter to November. The army and IPOB clashed in September before the adjourned date leading to the mysterious escape of Kanu from his country home.
