Reacting to Kanu’s boast that no mortal can kill him and that he would soon return to Biafra land, a community leader advised the IPOB leader to tread softly
Geoffrey Anyanwu, Awka, Chuks Onuoha, Umuahia and Stanley Uzoaru, Owerri
Founder of the Movement for the Actualisation of Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB), Ralph Uwazuruike, has urged Igbo to disregard the call by leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, for boycott of 2019 general elections in South East as contained in his broadcast last Sunday.
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Uwazuruike described the call for boycott of the election as laughable and unrealistic.
“Such call was laughable because he does not have control of election in Nigeria; his intention was to incite his members into a venture that could lead to death of innocent Igbo people again,” he said.
Uwazuruike, who said this while interacting with newsmen in Owerri, said Kanu is not worth dying for.
The leader of IPOB had, last Sunday, during a broadcast he made when he resurfaced in Israel, after his disappearance in March, said there would be no election in South-East in 2019.
“Nnamdi Kanu, out of ignorance, called for boycott of Anambra election last year and the election held, now that he is calling for another boycott, how does he want to achieve that?” the MASSOB leader wondered.
He added that without the vote of South East, a president will emerge in Nigeria, “so, it will make no meaning for the South East to boycott 2019 election.”
Uwazuruike also challenged Kanu to explain how he traveled to Israel after his international passport was seized by the Federal Government before his release.
Regardless, Secretary of Eastern Consultative Assembly (ECA) and Founder, Igbo Youth Movement (IYM), Evangelist Elliot Ugochukwu-Uko, has said Kanu’s broadcast, last Sunday, has changed the equation for 2019 general election.
Ugochukwu-Uko, who was one of the few Nigerians Kanu mentioned and commended for their truthfulness and firmness in the cause of justice during his broadcast on Radio Biafra, said 95 percent of Igbo see the IPOB leader as their hero, and hearing his voice last Sunday brought great excitement and hope to the people.
He advised the Nigerian government to find ways of dialoguing with Kanu and IPOB, instead of engaging in brutal approach of wasting the lives of the “unarmed” people, insisting that the people seem to believe the IPOB leader more now, after most of what he said earlier happened.
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“Now, we are in election season, I plead with political leaders to approach IPOB and talk with them. Shooting and killing them will never solve the problem. And Nnamdi’s voice that was heard this evening (Sunday) all over the world has changed the equation for this election.”
Meanwhile, the South East Renewal Group (SERG) has dared the IPOB leader to step his foot in any part of Nigeria and see if he won’t spend the rest of his life in jail.
The group, while reacting to Kanu’s declaration that there will be no election in the Southeastern part of Nigeria, which he claimed to be ‘Biafra territory’, described the statement as a joke that should not be taken seriously.
National President of SERG, Charles Mbani, in a statement, yesterday, said it was most unfortunate that, “Kanu is back to cause trouble for the people of South East of Nigeria, who have spent the last one year rebuilding confidence with their neighbours, in their bid to repair the damages caused by previous bellicose behaviour of his and his IPOB members.”
SERG said Kanu and the faction of IPOB that he leads, do not speak for the Igbo as a people.
Reacting to Kanu’s boast that no mortal can kill him and that he would soon return to Biafra land, a community leader, Chief Chukwudi Nwakolam has advised the IPOB leader to tread softly.
“He can never be God; only God can make that type of statement, not a mere mortal. He is an ordinary citizen of this country and a human. He should not be making bogus and inflammatory statement; Nigeria is far bigger than any individual. Careful people always measure the weight of their statements. Kanu should not cross the red line.”
Also speaking, Olusegun Bamgbose said Kanu should not put the lives of innocent youths online by making careless statements.
“The other time, many of our youths were killed because of him while he ran to safety. Today, he wants to direct the anger of the government in power against the youths in the South East, who would throw caution to the wind.
“The Nigerian government has had enough from different quarters, ranging from Boko Haram, etc, and would view any other act of violence seriously.”