Leader of the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB) Nnamdi Kanu cannot renounce his group’s demand for an independent state of Biafra, Movement for the Actualisation of the Soverign State of Biafra (MASSOB) said yesterday.
A progress report on the dialogue between the Movement for the Emancipation of Niger Delta (MEND) and agents of the Federal Government, at the weekend, said an arrangement was being worked out for Kanu’s release from prison custody by the Federal Government if he renounced his Baifra agitation.
Last month, President Muhammadu Buhari said the government through some oil companies and traditional rulers had been talking to the militants to end their agitation and bombing of oil facilities in the Niger Delta.
But Presidential spokesman Garba Shehu could not confirm MEND’s weekend claim. Shehu said the government had not received the report of the talks from those it authorised to discuss with MEND.
MASSOB leader Uchenna Madu, in a statement yesterday, described the condition as “laughable and inconsequential.”
The statement said: “MASSOB does not see Mazi Nnamdi Kanu as one who can betray his belief on Biafra, he is not a sellout, his ideologies on Biafra may differ, he can never betray hundreds of Biafrans that died recently on the course of Biafra.
“Secondly, Biafra is not a religious faith that can be renounced or abandoned. Nobody can renounce Biafra, it is an identity, culture, tradition and existence of group of nationalities, it’s not personal or individualistic.
“There are thousands of Biafranistic persons more determined, consistent, dangerous, focused, unshakable than Nnamdi KANU, Uchenna Madu and other leading figures in the Biafra struggle.
“Biafra is also bigger than all the leading figures put together.
It is childish on Federal government to expect Nnamdi Kanu to renounce Biafra, the fate of over fifty million people.
“MASSOB advises Buhari to save his battered Nigeria’s face from more diplomatic shame by allowing the court to grant Nnamdi Kanu and others bail.
“We shall continue to press for their release including the ultimate aim of Biafra actualization with non-violence. Nigeria will soon experience another dimension of non-violence struggle that will marvel it. Soon the world will celebrate the downfall of the most corrupt country.”
But the Ijaw Youth Council said it is still studying the reported MEND /federal government agreement.
IYC Spokesman Eric Omare told our reporter in a telephone conversation in Warri last night that the federal government was yet to confirm the veracity of the claims, since it was a party in the said-agreement.
“We are still watching the development unfold, we will wait till sometime during the week before we speak on the matter.
“The federal government has not even reacted or confirm the said-agreement so we will study the situation before we talk”, Omare said.
