Kanunta Kanu is the immediate younger brother of detained Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) leader, Nnamdi Kanu, who resides in Germany. A smooth player for the realisation of the Biafra dream abroad but not too vocal in the struggle back home in Nigeria, he was forced out of his cocoon by a recent statement credited to Chief Ralph Uwazuruike in which the MASSOB/BIM founder described Nnamdi and his IPOB cohorts as fraudsters. In this interview, Kanunta came out smoking against Uwazuruike whom he described as a coward and the real fraudster; affirming IPOB’s stand that the BIM leader was Federal Government’s key witness in the case instituted against his brother. He equally spoke on the cause of the rift between the two Biafra chief campaigners and other issues as they relate to the agitation. Kanunta spoke with OKEY SAMPSON from his base in Germany.
Would you like to react to what MASSOB founder, Chief Ralph Uwazuruike said that your brother, Nnamdi kanu and his IPOB are fraudsters?
First of all, I would like to tell you that (Chief Ralph) Uwazuruike made the statement because of IPOB allegation against him that he would testify against Nnamdi Kanu in court. In fact , he is one of the key witnesses Nigerian government has. In the first place, what I want to say is this, the name Biafra comes before any creature on this planet. Uwazuruike had failed many times and he will continue to fail because he puts himself before Biafra and not the other way round.
Uwazuruike is claiming that Nnamdi Kanu, as at 2009, was a yahoo boy. The question we are asking him is this, when did he realise that IPOB or Nnamdi Kanu was a yahoo boy? I am asking this question because we invited Uwazuruike to the United Kingdom in 2007 in the name of the Biafran community, not MASSOB in the first place. Now, he is claiming that he is all in all. He is claiming that he made Nnamdi Kanu the director of Radio Biafra. The simple question we are asking him is, who was the director of Radio Biafra in 2009? He should come out and tell us who that person was. Apparently, he doesn’t know what he is talking about because we believe and we all know that he has taken money from the Nigerian government. He has compromised the struggle from the out set. So there is nothing he can do for the Biafran people, not in this generation, not even in the next.
You accused Uwazuruike of being a key witness for Nigeria in the case against your brother, how sure are you, what’s your evidence?
You know, no matter how a bird flies , you will always see the belly. In fact, we know, we have our intelligence everywhere. So, they should not think that they are dealing with Nnamdi alone, he has millions of followers who can sacrifice themselves to get what they want and that is what we are doing. We know that Uwazuruike is the key witness the Nigerian government has; no other person can do it except Uwazuruike and let him come out and prove himself. We know him, we know he has never been straight. He seats and thinks about how he is going to sabotage what IPOB is doing because he has suddenly realised that IPOB is genuine. Nigerian government is playing with Uwazuruike because he goes behind to take his own share and comes back. He will talk about Biafra in the night whereas in the morning, he would go back and sit down. Why is it that Uwazuruike is busy destroying the structure that is on the ground already because he knows that he was going nowhere with what he has.
We are not fraudsters as he claimed, we are and we know at the end of the day, he will turn out to be the fraudster. As we speak, Uwazuruike is the fraudster and nobody else. That is the issue. It appears Uwazuruike is sick, and the sickness is called memory loss, he has lost his memory. Whatever he says today, he can’t remember it tomorrow and I hope he should go to doctors to examine him to know if his brain nerves are working at all.
What I’m saying is this, people should know that Uwazuruike is the number one witness Nigeria has in Nnamdi Kanu’s case. If he wants to testify, let him come out and testify openly and after testifying in the open, we can guarantee him from that very day, he will be in exile, he will never return to Igbo land because he is a fraudster. We know he has never been there to protect the interest of Ndigbo or Biafra as the case may be. Today, his tap is no longer flowing and it’s up to him to decide where he wants to belong, if he wants to be in BIM, let him remain there, if it’s in MASSOB let him remain there. We know there are genuine people in MASSOB who want to get Biafra today and tomorrow. They don’t care how we’re going to achieve Biafra, but they want it. I mean people like Uchenna Madu and others. These are men who are genuine; who believe they are MASSOBIANS, sure. They believe in what people are doing and they believe we want Biafra today and tomorrow and not Uwazuruike who keeps playing his tricks here and there.
Are you saying that Uwazuruike is afraid that he would want to testify against your brother and as such has to wear mask?
Uwazuruike is afraid because he knows that if he shows his face, we can guarantee him that, before he leaves that Court and arrive at his home, people will never recognize him again. That is why he wants to mask himself and witness against Nnamdi Kanu. This is the only thing Nigerian government has, they don’t have any proof. They don’t have anything to show. You can’t tell me that if you are talking about where courts function, an accused will get into a court in handcuffs; it never happens anywhere, including the Western world. So, it is only in the Zoo that this can happen. And those who are claiming that the Nigerian judiciary is working; we’re aware it is not working because the Court is being controlled by (President Muhammadu) Buhari. It is unfortunate that Justice Binta (Nyako) who wants to send Nnamdi to jail will allow the security agents to bring Nnamdi and other people to court in handcuffs and in her presence and what that means is that Nigerian judiciary doesn’t work, it doesn’t exist. It is more or less the Sharia law they are practicing there, and we know that. But we can guarantee them that they can never jail any of our Biafran brothers. They can never jail anybody, not even the leader of IPOB, nobody can jail him because we know that we are saying the truth and believe in the truth. That is the only thing destroying Nigeria. Nnamdi is saying the truth and we all remain in that truth and anybody who can’t tell the truth like Nnamdi Kanu, the person can as well clear off. We don’t need such a person.
If Uwazuruike and Nnamdi Kanu are working towards the same direction of actualising the state of Biafra, why should you think the former will turn around to testify against the latter in court?
If I understand that question very well, what Uwazuruike is doing is entirely different because if he believes in the common struggle, our fight for Biafra. I don’t think he will come out openly to condemn anybody no matter what it is. He condemned Benjamin Onwuka, saying he was trying to use force, look at where he is today; Nnamdi is a fraudster that is why he is in prison. Uwazuruike is the worst, most foolish and hopeless person I have ever seen. You can’t say you are fighting for your people and all of a sudden, you are killing them again, it doesn’t happen that way. It’s either you are my enemy or my friend. You can’t stay in the middle, you can’t be my friend and my enemy at the same time. Ii doesn’t happen that way.
What do you think Uwazuruike stands to gain by leading Nnamdi Kanu to the prison?
Uwazuruike believes Biafra can only come under his watch, but he doesn’t have what it takes to achieve Biafra, he doesn’t have it. He lacks the intellectual capacity; what it takes to bring about Biafra. He is only there because he wants to lead the rest but nothing more, nothing less. I am very sorry that he is fooling most of our people, using Biafra to do this, but they never knew that Uwazuruike is a conman.We’re making it clear today that he is a conman and for the fact that he has accused the IPOB leadership openly, we are asking him to come and prove it before it is too late. We have what it takes to tell the world and Nigeria that Uwazuruike is a fraudster, and that his pastime is to destroy what other people are doing. He is not genuine and he knows he cannot do anything because his time has elapsed. He wants to testify against Nnamdi in order to destroy what he is doing. Anybody that comes out, Uwazuruike is suppressing that person and I don’t know what he stands to gain from that.
Would you like to tell us how and when Uwazuruike started having problems with your brother?
We started having problem with Uwazuruike when he wanted to buy property in Glasston junction in East London, we told him automatically no, that it cannot happen, that they cannot be killing our people in Nigeria and you are using the same money these men are contributing to buy property in London, it will never happen. That was how we started having problem with Uwazuruike. Anybody that had superior ideas over Uwazuruike, he wouldn’t want to do anything with that person, that’s the fact and figure. When we realised that Uwazuruike was a fraud and we tried to correct him, he felt threatened and started doing all sorts of things. So, Nnamdi Kanu is in detention because he believes in the freedom of Biafra. If Nnamdi Kanu wants to behave like Uwazuruike, he would have certainly, come out from detention a long time ago because he had offers, but rejected them. This Uwazuruike who claimed he went to prison does not know the difference between going to prison and being detained. Uwazuruike was detained; he was never sentenced in the first place. So, when he comes out, he will be telling people that he went to prison, he never did, he was only detained, released and settled when his mother died and went inside, he could not talk any more. Uwazuruike is never genuine and will ever be genuine because we were able to discover who he was at an early stage.
Uwazuruike said as far as the Biafra issue is concerned, he is the overall leader, but why is he jumping from one movement to anoother? He opened MASSOB as he claimed, why did he leave MASSOB to open Biafran Independent Movement (BIM)? It’s just to disguise himself because he knows exactly that the name MASSOB, has been contaminated. MASSOB was listed as one of the terrorist organizations because he was using that platform to kidnap people. That was why MASSOB was blacklisted as a terrorist organization and he knows that he can no longer do anything with MASSOB. That is why he is going about cloning it BIM in disguise and turning around to claim that he is the leader of MASSOB.
Uwazuruike made mention of Benjamin Onwuka in that interview. If I’m not mistaken, Benjamin Onwuka is a Biafran, he is fighting for the same cause. If Uwazuruike is claiming to be the leader of Biafran people or MASSOB, why must he attack anyone who is agitating for Biafra? He is looking for Biafra and everybody wants to get Biafra today and tomorrow, why is he attacking anybody that talks about Biafra? He is condemning Onwuka, what makes him a leader? Since he cannot protect his people wherever they are, what makes him a leader? So, Uwazuruike runs around his kitchen and thinks that Biafra starts from and ends in his kitchen. But the answer is no.
Going by what you are saying, you are suggesting that Nnamdi Kanu’s problem was caused by Uwazuruike, is that right?
I wouldn’t say that Nnamdi’s problem was caused by Uwazuruike. Nnamdi came in because he was genuine; he wants to do something for our people. What Nnamdi Kanu is doing is not just for him, it’s what Biafran people have mandated him to do. That is why when he speaks; he speaks with every authority because he knows he is representing the Biafran future. Uwazuruike sees Nnamdi as a threat to his perceived empire acquisition and he started by kidnapping the IPOB leader in 2009, this is a known fact. After that, Uwazuruike and MASSOB kidnapped another person from the United States and after these things, MASSOB was labeled a terrorist group and these are stories he (Uwazuruike) never told anybody.
Going by what has been happening, are you convinced that Biafra is achievable?
I’m much convinced that Biafra is achievable because I know that one day, Nigeria will tumble. If Nigeria does not tumble, I will have every cause to ask Chukwu Okike Abiama (God) a question. Why did He refuse to destroy ‘Zoo’ (Nigeria) and then Sodom and Gomorrah because from what I’m seeing, Sodom and Gomorrah were 1000 times better than Nigeria. So, if ‘Zoo’ does not go down this time, we will have reason to ask our Chukwu Okike Abiama why He did not destroy ‘Zoo’ and destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah because they were nations far better than Nigeria.
From the way you are sounding, you are averse to making peace with the Federal Government and getting your brother released from prison?
If you are talking about peace, nobody goes to Aso Rock Villa without a business plan. If they are talking about this, it’s entirely a different thing. They can’t be holding me on the ground and you want me to negotiate with you. It doesn’t happen that way. If they want to negotiate with Nnamdi Kanu, bring him out, sit down with him eyeball to eyeball and negotiate. Nobody can negotiate for Nnamdi Kanu because he is a man of himself. He is not only a man but the leader of IPOB and he should be given that respect.
As a matter of fact, do you have any advice for Uwazuruike?
My advice for Uwazuruike is that if he knows something, he should go home and rest. His time is over, people don’t listen to him again because he has deceived our people for so many years and for how long does he think he is going to do that? He should allow genuine Biafrans to fight this cause the way they should‑ and for Uwazuruike, he is done.