The continuing detention of the Indigenous People of Biafra’s leader, Nnamdi Kanu, was referred to as unlawful in a statement published by their spokesperson, Emma Powerful, who also insisted that self-determination is legal under the African Union Charter and United Nations law.
Emma Powerful commended the governors of Anambra and Enugu states, Professor Chukwuma Soludo and Dr. Peter Mba, for requesting the unconditional release of the pro-Biafra leader, Mazi Nnamadi Kanu.
The IPOB imagine maker emphasised that Kanu is the only politically motivated prisoner held illegally in prison without charge, adding that “the main reason for his persecution and illegal incarceration is because he is fighting for the freedom and wellbeing of his people.”
He claimed that the country’s indigenous groups have the inalienable right to pursue any political, economic, cultural, and social course, and claimed that Kanu was forcibly kidnapped by Nigerian authorities in Kenya and brought back to Nigeria to live in a quiet detention facility for two years because he wanted an Igbo referendum to be overseen by the UN.
The IPOB spokesman said by continually detecting Kanu, the Nigerian government has shown hostility and contempt against the Igbo people, whom he described as a vulnerable group that is discriminated against, targeted, and killed by national security forces.
Emma Powerful said that Nigeria has become a pariah state because of her animosity and irrational fear of an autonomous and independent Biafran nation, stressing that the Igbo demand for a referendum is not negotiable and the Federal Government should initiate talks on a referendum date and terms quickly.