The Leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Mr. Nnamdi Kanu has risen to deny the claims that he is working with some militant groups in the Niger Delta region, including Movement for the Emancipation of Niger Delta (MEND) and Niger Delta Avengers (NDA).
Kanu who has been in detention since October 2015, said the militant groups have no authority to represent him in any ongoing negotiations with the Federal Government over purported plans to release him.
He rather was of the view that he is not ignorant to political solutions in resolving his ordeal. He said if indeed the Federal Government is in any negotiations, it knows where to find him.
Addressing journalists in Abuja on Friday, a representative of Mr. Kanu’s legal team, Mr. Ifeanyi Ejiofor, said the IPOB leader has credible people who are willing to negotiate on his behalf.
“The unfolding events in the polity have therefore, vindicated our long held view that Nnamdi Kanu is a political prisoner. We wish to reiterate that on Nnamdi Kanu’s total freedom we stand.
“In the past few days, the media have been awash with news on negotiations going on between the Federal Government and the members of MEND, where our client’s name conspicuously featured. It is on that note that we wish to inform the general public that Nnamdi Kanu has no connection, contact, ties or any form of relationship with members of MEND.
“As such, MEND has no implied, direct or express authority of Nnamdi Kanu to represent him or IPOB in any purported negotiation between it and the Federal Government. The Federal Government does not need to sponsor their representatives to travel to far away Bayelsa State or the creeks of Niger Delta region in order to reach Nnamdi Kanu,” Kanu’s lawyer, Ejiofor noted.
Meanwhile, the Traditional Prime Minister of Awkuzu and a retired Colonel in the defunct Biafran Army, Chief Michael Ozua Okoye has said that the leader of IPOB, Kanu has nothing to do with either MEND or Avengers.
He noted that the Niger Delta militants have their own agenda and motives which they are championing in their own way, saying that Kanu has a different ideology from that of militants who are fighting against environmental degradation.
Okoye who is also Traditional Prime Minister of Ndigbo (Ononwu Ndigbo) said that Kanu was leading the struggle for restoration of Biafra state and nothing more, stressing that, the militants call for his release doesn’t mean that he is a member of their group.
He noted that many Nigerians especially from Igbo land have been calling for the release of Kanu from detention after courts have granted him bail, even as he again called on the Federal Government to obey court decision to release him unconditionally.
-Emmanuel Ikechukwu
