BIAFRA : Tension in Abia community over burial of Kanu’s parents

Eze Isreal Kanu (left) and son, IPOB leader Nnamdi

Palpable fear and tension have enveloped the quiet Afaraukwu Ibeku community in Abia North Local Government Area of Abia State over the burial of parents of Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of the proscribed  Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) scheduled for Friday.

Kanu’s mother, Sally, and father, Eze Israel Kanu, the Traditional Ruler of Afaraukwu Ibeku, died in August and December 2019, respectively.

They will be buried in their country home in the community.

But the News Agency of Nigeria reports that some residents of the community are already relocating to other parts of Umuahia, as residents fear a possible police/IPOB clash during the burial.

Abia Police Command has warned that it will not allow any member of IPOB to attend the burial in their regalia and will not allow any item with Biafra symbol to be displayed.

But the Police said its intention is not to scuttle the burial.

In a statement made available to NAN in Umuahia on Tuesday, the command’s spokesman, SP Geoffrey Ogbonna, urged the public to “disregard the rumour” that the police commissioner was plotting to scuttle the burial.

Ogbonna stated, “the Commissioner of Police urges the public to disregard the rumour making the rounds that he wants to scuttle the burial.

“On the contrary, he has the good intention to provide security for lives and property of the people during the burial.”

He further stated that the presence of security operatives “in and around the community should not be seen as a threat but a proactive measure to prevent the infiltration of miscreants and hoodlums into the community” to foment trouble and truncate the burial.

He stated that the command had been inundated with intelligence “that miscreants disguising as IPOB members intend to hijack the burial, in solidarity with its leader.”

According to the statement, the police boss assured residents and sympathisers that the command would provide adequate security for lives and property during and after the burial.

He further warned IPOB “to steer clear from the environment”, saying that the command “will not fold its arm and watch their unlawful activities.”

BIAFRA : Kanu parents’ burial: IPOB attacks CP over police threat

The leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, Nnamdi Kanu, has threatened to deal with the Abia State Commissioner of Police, Mr Ene Okon, if any member of the group is killed during the burial of his parents on February 14, 2020.

Kanu made the threat in a message on Facebook on Sunday.

He wrote, “If Inspector Okon and his commanders come to my father’s house to kill anyone on 14th February, 2020 at my parents’ burial, we will hunt down their children.”

 Kanu’s threat is the latest in the battle of words between the security agents and Kanu’s followers in IPOB as the burial date of the parents gets nearer.

IPOB had in a statement asked security agencies in the state to join their colleagues in the fight against insurgency in the North-East and stay away from the burial.

IPOB stated that its members must attend the burial to pay their last respects to the parents of their leader.

 But the CP had insisted that IPOB members would not be tolerated during the burial of Kanu’s parents.

 He said the police would provide security during the burial of the monarch and his wife but would not spare any IPOB member at the venue.

“We will not tolerate any Biafra flag, IPOB insignia or the group’s members disguising as Jewish or Zionist Church members during the burial,” he had said.

IPOB, in another development, described Okon as a sycophant.

It said the CP was creating unnecessary tension in the state over the burial to please his paymasters in Abuja to advance his career in the force.

Separate statements by IPOB’s Media and Publicity Secretary, Emma Powerful, and MASSOB’s leader, Uchenna Madu, condemned the alleged statement by the CP that the police and other security agents would disrupt the burial should members of IPOB attend.

They said, “The commissioner of police is being used to create unnecessary security tension in a peaceful Abia State. The people of Afaraukwu community are peace-loving people.

 “We have made it clear that the burial of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu’s parents is not an IPOB or Biafra event. There will be no display or flying of Biafra flags or showcasing of any Biafra insignias. Abia State police boss should go and sleep.”

By: Ogbonnaya Ikokwu and Tony Okafor

BIAFRA ; IPOB insists members will participate in Kanu’s parents’ burial

 MASSOB condemns police interference in ceremony
The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB yesterday said that its members would attend the burial of the parents of their leader, Nnamdi Kanu, on February 14, 2020 at Afaraukwu, Ibeku, Umuahia, Abia State.

In what looks like setting the stage for a showdown with the police in Abia State, which had earlier warned members of the group to steer clear of the burial if they want it to go smoothly, IPOB members said they would attend the burial.

IPOB in a statement signed by its Media and Publicity Secretary, Emma Powerful, yesterday, said: “If the military might of the Almajiri Nigerian North, grand conspiracy of the judiciary and mind-numbing treachery of Igbo governors and Ohanaeze Ndigbo could not stop IPOB, how much less an unknown Fulani boy-boy and servant in police uniform in Umuahia.

“It is important we inform the Fulani masters of this Okon and those parading themselves as military officers in Afaraukwu Umuahia to beware because they cannot stop IPOB from coming to the burial of our leader’s parents on February 14, 2020. All the years of threats and brutal crackdowns on IPOB have all resulted in making IPOB more defiant, determined and ruthless in our pursuit of the noble goal of Biafra liberation.”

The police through its Commissioner in Abia State, Ene Okon, had vowed that they would not sit down and allow IPOB participate in the burial, stressing that it had reached out “to the prime minister of Afaraukwu and told him that if they want the burial to go on smoothly and for police to give them security, they should tell IPOB not to near the area not to talk of participating in the burial.”

But Powerful in the statement condemned the stand of the police, saying such had never happened in history in the country.

“In the sad history of Nigeria, never has there been an edict or warning issued against those mourning the passing of loved ones.”

Meanwhile, the leadership of the Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) has warned the Abia State Commissioner of Police (CP) to desist from creating artificial tension in the state and allow the bereaved family and sympathisers to concentrate on the burial arrangements for the late traditional ruler of Afaraukwu, Eze Israel Kanu and his wife, Ugoeze Sally Kanu.

MASSOB expressed worry that police interference through unguided and insensitive statements on the burial of late traditional ruler of Afaraukwu and his wife is creating distraction and confusion in Afaraukwu community and the South-East in general.

The MASSOB Leader, Uchenna Madu, in a statement yesterday in Awka, while condemning the activities of Abia State Police Command, urged the state Commissioner of Police to order and caution that police steer clear and allow the mourners bury their dead.

BIAFRA : We want Biafra not Igbo president in 2023, says MASSOB/BIM

BIAFRA Chijioke Agwu, Abakaliki and Stanley Uzoaru, Owerri

The Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) and the  Biafra Independent Movement (BIM), yesterday, said they were not part of agitation by some South East leaders pushing for an Igbo to become President in 2023.

The groups said their interest and agitation remained the actualisation of the sovereign state of Biafra  and appealed to the Federal Government to grant them Biafra independence ahead of 2023.

Chief Larry  Ikechukwu Odinma, who addressed the media in Abakaliki, as  Minister for Planning and Strategy in the New Republic of Biafra, said Igbo were more focused on getting Biafra and developing the new country.

“The clamour for an Igbo man to become  President of Nigeria is entirely not our concern. Groups or individuals after such intentions are on their own.

We want to rule ourselves, we want to develop our nation. So we appeal to the Nigeria government to grand us our sovereignty as our mother nation. All the necessary arms of governments are is already actively functioning and  doing credibly magnificent in the discharge of their duties.

“We have been given independence by the United Nation,  now we are waiting for our sovereignty just like Taiwan, and many others that have their independence status and waiting for their sovereignty to control their territories, have their own military, and have their own currency. That is why we are here today because we have been bestowed with that status by the UN. The present administration is already aware of this development and they are not restricting us from holding our activities for the past one month since our independence was granted. We the MASSOB/BIM are violence free and orderly.

It is based on these facts that we were privileged to have the backings of the United Nation, Africa Union, European Union and other world bodies,” Odinma said.

Meanwhile, the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has alleged that the Abia Commissioner of Police, Mr. Ene Okon was using the constant threats and utterances against the group on the burial ceremony of Nnamdi Kanu’s parents to seek for promotion.

Spokesman of the group, Mr. Emma Powerful, disclosed this in a statement in Owerri, yesterday, saying the constant attacks against the fight for the independence of Biafra by the Nigerian government had only helped to further the cause of its promoters.

“Biafra is resonating all over the world today, especially thanks to our great leader Mazi Nnamdi Kanu and IPOB family worldwide. All the years of threats and brutal crackdowns on IPOB have all resulted in making IPOB more defiant, determined and ruthless in our pursuit of the noble goal of Biafra liberation.

“We shall as always peacefully attend the burial of His Royal Majesty and his wife and should Nigerian army and police attempt to breach the peace; the world will bear us witness,” Powerful said.

BIAFRA : Boko Haram days are numbered – Buhari says as terrorists kill 30

President Muhammadu Buhari has commiserated with families of victims of the latest attacksin Maiduguri, Borno State.

He assured that his administration will continually frustrate the devilish operations of Boko Haram, and bring it to an end.

Buhari condemned the “murderous and cowardly attack on innocent passengers by the Boko Haram terrorists near Maiduguri’’.

In a statement by his spokesman, Garba Shehu, Buhari added that his administration is ever determined to frustrate their goal to hold Nigeria to ransom’’.

“The commitment of this administration to protect the lives of Nigerians will not be derailed by the cowardly and indiscriminate violence against innocent people by Boko Haram terrorists,’’ he said.

President Buhari, who also condoled with the government of the state, warns “that terrorists are clearly on the back foot and their days are numbered’’.

“As our armed forces continue to receive more hardware and intelligence to counter our current security challenges, the remnants of Boko Haram will ultimately be crushed.

“The peculiar challenges of asymmetric warfare notwithstanding, our armed forces are ever determined to defeat these enemies of humanity,’’ President Buhari said.

Nnamdi Kanu dares Nigerian Police over burial of his parents

BIAFRA The leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, has dared the Nigerian Police, to shoot guests at the funeral of his parents on Friday.
Nicodemus saviour

Kanu stated this during a broadcast on Radio Biafra last weekend.

The IPOB leader also hinted that he would not return to Nigeria for the funeral and would be monitoring events from abroad.

https://youtu.be/sGJ57Cng_4I

Kanu was reacting to a statement from the police, in which they vowed to disrupt the burial ceremony, if IPOB members attend the event.

“Instead of them to be remorseful for causing the death of my father and mother, all they are saying is we will come and shoot at people that attend the burial,” he said.

“They should come and shoot; our CCTV is there live. So that when it starts, they won’t deny it.

“It will be relayed live so that when our people’s madness starts, they won’t go back to propaganda and say, ‘it is secession, they are trying to secede.”

Kanu has been on the run since 2017, when soldiers raided his father’s residence in Abia.

IPOB alleges threat by police against guests at Kanu's parents burial

Biafra: Group asks Buhari to withdraw treason charges against IPOB leader, Nnamdi Kanu

IPOB reacts as police warn Nnamdi Kanu not to return for his mother's burial

Nnamdi Kanu’s Brother Sends ‘Strong Warning’ To Nigerian Army Ahead Of Parents’ Burial

Emmanuel Kanu, the younger brother of the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, has warned the Nigerian Army to stay away from his parents’ burial ceremony later this month.

This online news platform had reported earlier that the parents of the IPOB leader, late HRH Eze Israel Okwu Kanu and his wife late Ugoeze Sally Nmeme Okwu-Kanu will be buried on Valentine’s day, Friday, February 14, 2020.

Naija News reports that ahead of the burial ceremony, the governor of Abia State, southeast Nigeria, Okezie Ikpeazu, has directed the state ministry of works to ensure the immediate reconstruction of Eze I. O. Kanu road in Afaraukwu Ibeku, Umuahia North Local Government Area (LGA).

While IPOB members are eagerly anticipating the arrival of Mr Kanu for the burial ceremony, the Afaraukwu community in Umuahia North council area of Abia State, the home town of Mr Kanu, have handed out a warning to IPOB members to stay away, appealing for peace at the burial.

Naija News reports that the President General, Afaraukwu community, Chief Ikechukwu Ndubueze, who briefed the media on the preparations for the burial, said the community wants a peaceful burial for their late monarch and his wife.

“What we are doing is a traditional burial. The entire Afaraukwu community wants a peaceful burial. We have been meeting with the security agencies in the state. What we are doing is not an IPOB affair, we are only burying our late monarch and his wife. They should allow us to bury our dead. Afaraukwu is a peaceful community.