Independent People of Biafra (IPOB) leader, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu has replied President Muhammed Buhari over the call for his re-arrest.
In a statement reacting to the President. Kanu said he is not afraid of arrest and will continue to protect the Biafran people from the dictatorial tendencies of the Buhari administration.
His words: “The directive to service chiefs to clamp down on IPOB is a continuation of the Buhari’s dictatorial and un- democratic approach to gover- nance. I find it unacceptable, abhorrent, and insulting that somebody elected by the peo- ple can turn around to dictate to them.
“Buhari was elected to gov- ern Nigeria, he should get on with the business of gover- nance and not try to instigate another war.”
Kanu also insisted on the boycott of November 18 Anambra governorship election, stressing that “only the beneficiaries of the crumbs from Aso Rock will support those calling on me to rescind the boycott order.
“The call for boycott of the election is our legitimate right. IPOB has only one weapon with which to fight Nigeria, and that is civil disobedience not armed conflict. If we decide not to vote in Anambra, it is our prerogative. It is not targeted at Governor Willie Obiano or anybody.”
He stressed that IPOB would not be forced to take up arms no matter the provocation. “We have refused to be provoked to arms rebellion. That is what Buhari is looking for. Buhari wants a war but we won’t oblige him because we are civilised people. We are democrats at heart by nature and by essence,” he said, adding that no amount of threat or intimidation would make him give up the struggle for Biafra autonomy because it is a genuine cause.
“We are not armed and we can never be armed. IPOB has done a lot to free other ethnic nationalities from the Caliphate’s bondage of retrogression and economic emasculation. Other ethnic na- tionalities should be grateful to IPOB for giving them the cour- age and the heart to speak up and say they are not slaves.
“We are not afraid because IPOB is a peaceful mass move- ment and not a violent arms group. IPOB is a non-violent peaceful mass movement. There is no recorded event of an injury sustained in any of the numerous IPOB gather- ings. People converge in their millions to listen to this gospel of the restoration of Biafra.
“We are the most disciplined, most well behaved mass movement anywhere on the face of the earth despite the genocidal killings, arbitrary arrests, illegal detentions with- out trial.”
“We are not fighting Nigeria as a state. We are not fighting any governor. We are not fighting any individual because we are a global organisation.
“We are fighting a lopsided, fundamentally corrupt system that has held people down in abject poverty for decades, leading to premature deaths, high scale unemployment, and complete decimation of the economic landscape. We are fighting a system which has made the rest of us slaves to people who are not qualified to hold public office.
“Do you think that if things were working very well that anybody would want to leave Nigeria? I am a pan Africanist. I want to establish good gov- ernance that will extend to the ends of Africa. The way Nigeria was formed and handed over to a band of scavengers can no longer be tolerated.
“The agitation is not against anybody. We are pursuing an ideal nation where hospitals and schools can function. IPOB is building roads but the media will not report that. We don’t molest people because we are under oath to defend those that cannot defend themselves. We cannot bring one to our people but we must agitate.
“I want the world to under- stand why we are canvassing ceaselessly for our freedom. It is because of the divergent value system in Nigeria. To Buhari as a Fulani man, the only way he can solve a problem is via brute force. But we are not cows that can be beaten into submission. We are not cattle. You must appeal to our sense of reasoning.”