The spokesman of the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra, IPOB, Comrade Emma Powerful in this interview re-echoes the group’s stand that the Ohanaeze Ndigbo should shelve its plan of holding any form of restructuring summit in Igboland. The group said Ohaneze President, Chief Nnia Nwodo had sold the apex-Igbo group to former Vice President, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar. Excerpts!
Why is your group kicking against the Ohanaeze summit on restructuring?
Ohanaeze Ndigbo have outlived their usefulness. An organisation that claims to represent the interest of the people but are actively engaged in undermining the collective aspiration of the same people they claim to be working for should not exist. Ohanaeze Ndigbo is organisation that have soiled it’s hands in the blood of the innocent. Nnia Nwodo, Gov. Dave Umahi and Gov. Okezie Ikpeazu are the brains behind Operation Python Dance II. Is it conceivable that Pa Ayo Adebanjo or the respected Afenifere leadership will take the pains of traveling to Abuja to beg the Fulani rulers of Nigeria to use the Nigerian military to invade Yoruba land to kill Yoruba sons and daughters agitating for their freedom? Despite the well documented violent tendencies of OPC, no Yoruba representative ever called for their cold blooded execution by the military. Arewa Consultative Forum never condemned a full blown terror outfit like Boko Haram; they are actively working with MACBAN (Fulani herdsmen) who are the fourth most deadliest terrorist organisation in the world. Have you heard of any word of condemnation of the activities of Fulani herdsmen from any of the northern leaders till date?
But Nnia Nwodo and Dave Umahi traveled to Abuja no less than three times to plead with the arch enemies of Biafra to launch a deadly military operation to wipe out IPOB leadership in cold blood. Nnia Nwodo and South East governors cannot initiate the assassination of our leader Mazi Nnamdi Kanu and countless other unarmed agitators and hope to benefit from their evil deeds by conducting public meetings as if nothing happened. To allow Ohanaeze Ndigbo to keep operating as normal, given their treachery and murderous mindset would mean condoning the worst form of abomination in our society. They are in effect accessory to murder after the fact. They are responsible for the death of hundreds of victims of Operation Python Dance including our leader and if anybody thinks we will easily forget what role Nnia Nwodo and Dave Umahi played in this matter they are clearly mistaken.
What evidence do you have against some Igbo leaders that you accuse of sell-out?
Evidence abound as to the catalogue of treachery and betrayal by this group of political merchants masquerading as leaders and elite led by Nnia Nwodo’s Ohaneze Ndigbo. South East governors in concert with Nnia Nwodo’s Ohaneze Ndigbo proscribed IPOB for no reason other than greed, envy and jealousy. Do not forget that they proscribed IPOB before the army did which was later followed by the ruling of the Fulani judge Justice Kafarati. The Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) cited the proscription of IPOB by South East governors as the key reason why IPOB should be tagged a terrorist group. Go and check the court papers it is there. What other crime could be worse than inviting your enemies to invade your land to kill your so-called children or those you claim to be leading? They actively sought military intervention from the Fulani administration of Muhammadu Buhari to come and kill Nnamdi Kanu, his parents and IPOB agitators in Afaraukwu Ibeku Abia State on the 14th of October 2017 under the guise of Operation Python Dance II.
Other traitors such as Kalu Idika Kalu were busy boasting at a gathering in Lagos that Operation Python Dance was a welcome development. Before the invasion of the residence of our leader, three separate meetings were held in Lagos, Enugu and Abuja to obtain the agreement of supposes Igbo leaders that the death of Nnamdi Kanu during the invasion of the 14th of October 2017 would not elicit any public outcry or condemnation. Those privy to this conspiracy of silence are; Admiral Ndubuisi Kanu, Ken Nnamani, Jim Nwobodo, Ebitu Ukiwe, Kalu Idika Kalu among others including some corrupt traditional rulers.
The meeting of Igbo leaders at Nike Lake resort convened by Ohaneze Ndigbo to give Igbo public approval to the murder of hundreds of IPOB agitators by the Nigerian Army is an abominable act before God, before the spirit of our ancestors and before man. Some traditional rulers were given 500,000 each to purchase their silence on that fateful evening at Nike Lake resort. If not for the timely intervention of some senior clergymen who opposed what Ohaneze Ndigbo were doing, the motion to condemn IPOB, who were unarmed and being killed by the army, would have carried.
Dave Umahi traveled to Benue State and boasted before MACBAN and Benue leaders that he single handedly crushed IPOB. Nnia Nwodo on his part not only made similar boasts but went as far as sponsoring a few inconsequential individuals to issue press statements to the effect that IPOB is now divided. The whole nonsense about a certain non-existent ‘Okwudili’ a factional leader of mirage IPOB is the creation of Nnia Nwodo and DSS. They floated a rival station rbi (Radio Buhari International) to challenge Radio Biafra and perpetuate the myth that IPOB is divided in order to destroy our agitation for freedom.
During one of the meetings between our leader and South East governors at Enugu Government House, Dave Umahi and Nnia Nwodo invited DG DSS Lawal Daura to observe the proceedings. Nnia Nwodo cannot issue a public statement on behalf of Ohaneze Ndigbo without first emailing a draft copy to Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar and former IG of Police Ibrahim Coomasie for approval. Nnia Nwodo is more interested in Abuja political appointments that saving the Igbo nation from impending danger of Fulani murderous domination. Everything Nwodo does is for the advancement of Fulani hegemonic interest in Igboland and Biafra in general.
Why is it that innocent IPOB agitators are still locked up in prison when Boko Haram terrorists are being released and Fulani herdsmen are quite literally being treated as untouchables and above the law? Why is Ohaneze Ndigbo not against Fulani herdsmen the same way it has come out against IPOB? The sins of Ohaneze Ndigbo is too numerous to outline here but we know that their time has come to an end under the leadership of Nnia Nwodo.
You threatened to disrupt the summit and cause bloodshed. What if soldiers descend on your group since it has been proscribed?
We shall protest and heckle which is also our democratic right. Our reference to bloodshed is specific. If the Nigerian Army were to open fire on protesters, then Nnia Nwodo, Dave Umahi, Okezie Ikpeazu and co will feel the wrath of the people. They can’t expect to be killing other people’s children that did them no wrong or harm and expect nothing to happen to their own.
Soldiers descending on us is nothing new, we are used to it but at the appropriate time they will all answer for their crime. It’s not a question of if but when. No commanding officer responsible for the deaths of IPOB agitators will ever go scott-free. At the right time we shall hunt them down one by one and bring them to justice even if they run to Niger republic. This generation of Biafrans is unforgiving, that is one thing our enemies must know.
We recognise the right of people to peaceful assembly but Ohaneze Ndigbo never accorded IPOB the same right because if they did, they would not have asked the military to attack IPOB whose sole crime is to assemble, associate and exercise their right to free speech. There is nothing Nnia Nwodo and South East governors can point to and say this is what Nnamdi Kanu did to us or against the interest of Biafrans but for sheer envy and jealousy, they arranged for him to be killed by Fulani soldiers in Nigerian Army uniform.
Why are you insisting that the Ohanaeze should support your referendum agenda?
Because referendum is the will of the people. No right thinking intelligent being will subscribe to the ludicrous notion of one Nigeria unless that person is a thief, suffering from identity crisis or lacking in self confidence that only belonging to a wider Nigeria can hide. If Ohaneze Ndigbo is in doubt as to what our people truly desire, they should conduct a plebiscite. Why are they afraid of going to the people to ask them what they want? More intelligent people like Gov. Dickson and former governor of Delta State Ibori have stated clearly that referendum is the way to go. Ohaneze Ndigbo cannot decide for the people, IPOB too cannot decide for all the people of Biafra, that was why we opted to ask the people what they want. Power resides with the people not a few yes men placed in power by the Fulani caliphate on behalf whatever higher interest they are serving.
The era of a few gathering together in a mosque somewhere in the North to draw up a constitution for the people has come and gone. Ordinary people will decide how they want to be governed and led not a few compromised individuals. Should Biafran people vote in a referendum that they want to remain in one Nigeria then we remain in Nigeria, but Nnia Nwodo and his Ohaneze Ndigbo or whoever for that matter, cannot decide for us. Other ethnic nationalities should adopt the same approach if they want to free themselves from the bondage that Nigeria has become. Rather than complaining about ethnic cleansing and army colluding with the military to wipe out non Hausa Fulani populations in the Middle Belt, people from affected areas should band together to demand their freedom from the domineering Fulani caliphate. Freedom for all ethnic nationalities that make up Nigeria is the only way forward.
Don’t you think that restructuring can also address your agitations?
Restructuring is not a panacea for the ills bedeviling Nigeria. The only solution is outright dissolution. Restructuring is a product of a flawed intellectual argument devoid of common sense and rational thinking. You cannot fuse together divergent, competing and often irreconcilable value systems into one monolithic geo-political space. Even USA as diverse as it is, operates under an irreducible value system of equality, freedom and market economy. What obtains in Nebraska also obtains in Alaska. Saudi Arabia, which is the beacon of excellence for Fulani power brokers, is a homogenous country in terms of their value system. It doesn’t matter who you are, once you are in Saudi Arabia you become subject to Islamic rule. When a US citizen visit Saudi Arabia, he or she knows not to drink alcohol in a public place. Likewise when a Saudi visits the US, he will also learn to live with scantily clad women drinking and smoking in public places without molestation by any religious police.
Now imagine forcing Saudi Arabia and USA to live in the same country as one nation. This is exactly what is happening in Nigeria today and why there can never be any meaningful human development. Hausa Fulani people are feudal and Islamic in outlook whereas Biafrans are liberal, democratic, republican and Judeo-Christian. How can these competing value systems ever merge to produce the lifeblood of sustainable nationhood. Some non-Biafrans are shouting one Nigeria and restructuring because they are afraid of losing oil revenue and bring left alone with the core north. Your one Nigeria and restructuring debate is borne out of economic desperation rather than cold logic. Should oil wells in Biafraland dry up today, Nigeria will divide within minutes along ethnic lines.
Those that have selfishly benefitted from the status quo should boldly come out to say they cannot survive without a share of the oil revenue hence the hypocritical clamour for one Nigeria. The only thing that unites Nigerians are crude oil and fear of the unknown after breakup, nothing more, nothing less. Restructuring will only result in the perpetuation of this false marriage. Let the people decide, that’s all we are asking for.
Is your threat to kill Ohanaeze leaders’ children, a means to intimidate them or you are really serious about it?
If they kill our children we shall also kill their children so they know how it feels to bury a loved one. Had Nnia Nwodo, Dave Umahi, Okezie Ikpeazu and Willie Obiano lost their children before now at the hands of the Nigerian military, do you think they will readily invite the same army to kill other people’s children? We have nothing to lose anymore. Should we fold our hands and allow them to keep killing our children, they would only become more emboldened because they lack conscience.
We would like the media to focus more on the atrocities these men committed through their invitation of the Nigerian Army into Biafraland. We are not going to Ohaneze Ndigbo public meeting to kill anybody, we are going to make sure we let the world know who they are dealing with in Nnia Nwodo, Okezie Ikpeazu, Dave Umahi and Willie Obiano. All we are saying is that if our children are shot and killed again at any Ohaneze Ndigbo event, the children of Ohaneze Ndigbo leaders will suffer the same fate.
What is your group doing to produce Nnamdi Kanu in court so that Senator Abaribe and others won’t lose their N300m bail bond?
It seems there is deliberate effort on some parts of the media to misrepresent the facts concerning the sureties and bail bond forfeiture process. Isn’t it worrying that most people who claim to be educated feign ignorance of the fact when it comes to the issue of the disappearance of our leader. Have you forgotten Operation Python Dance II and the invasion of the home of our leader? Why won’t the media do some investigative journalism to discover what the army was doing there. Every journalist worth his pen have seen the video footage shot live during the army invasion which the GOC 82 Division Enugu admitted to have also watched live on army video feed back to the headquarters during the invasion.
Are you saying you did not see what happened between the 10th to 18th of September 2017 across Abia and Rivers State? It was ascertained that our leader was in his bedroom during the invasion, who, in the opinion of any tight thinking person, should produce Nnamdi Kanu? Those that carried out the invasion with the intention to kill or the 28 dead IPOB members slain at the scene?
We expect responsible journalists to do their work by asking the Nigerian Army, Nnia Nwodo, Dave Umahi and Okezie Ikpeazu what became of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu. The idea of asking IPOB to produce him is implying that IPOB family members dressed up in army uniform and stormed his residence killing 28 people in the process. Mind you it won’t be beyond Lai Mohammed to spin such narrative.
Any keen observer of the proceedings at Binta Nyako’s court will tell you that the nonsense being reported about the sureties going to jail or forfeiting their bond money is patently false. Justice Binta Nyako never made such pronouncements as reported in certain sections of the media. The fact of the matter remains that the sureties have never had an opportunity in court to present their case before now because the prosecution has been following the wrong legal process. Abaribe’s lawyer corrected this anomaly during the last sitting which the court agreed with. The court compelled the AGF to follow the right process of service which they are now doing. How can a surety go to jail or forfeit his bond when a court hasn’t ruled on it yet. This trial by media must stop and journalists owe it as a duty to their readers and public at large not to help this government sway public opinion by reporting what is inaccurate on the pages of newspapers.
At the end of this whole legal process, the world will understand precisely what happened at Nnamdi Kanu’s home because Buratai and his men will be cross examined in a court of law under oath. One outcome is certain at the end of this case, the army will produce our leader.
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