Political activists from the region of Biafra in Nigeria descended on the Union Buildings on Wednesday during the inauguration ceremony of President Cyril Ramaphosa to draw attention to the plight of their imprisoned leader Nnamdi Kanu.
Singing songs and chanting in the Igbo language of Biafra, the activists evoked the spirits of their ancestors to help them out in their endeavours.
Their organisation is called Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and it advocates recession from the mother country Nigeria.
Biafra is one of the many regions that make up Nigeria and presently falls under the Nigerian Federal Government.
It is not the first time that Kanu has been arrested by the Nigerian government.
The first time he was arrested in Nigeria was in 2015, but he disappeared from that country while out on bail in 2017.
He was subsequently kidnapped in Kenya in 2021 and charged in Nigeria on seven counts of terrorism.
He has pleaded not guilty to the aforementioned counts of terrorism.
Kanu is a British citizen of Nigerian descent, but he is the leader of IPOB.
According to one of the members of IPOB, their demonstration at the Union Buildings on Wednesday was aimed at asking President Cyril Ramaphosa and Nigeria’s President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to intervene and facilitate the immediate release of the imprisoned Kanu.
He was kidnapped in Kenya, tortured for 8 days before extraordinarily rendition him to Nigeria via private jet.
Nigeria government broke international law.
Mazi Nnamdi Kanu is a British citizen, he was not with any Nigerian passport.
Nigeria courts have discharged and acquitted him from all wrong charges labeled against him with compensation.
They refused to obey their court order and dumped him in DSS dungeon with his underlined health condition.
Nigeria government sent their military to kill him.
Over 30 innocents Biafrans were massacred by the Nigeria military on 19th June 2024.
“We are asking for the release of Kanu because he is still being held in detention even though he was discharged by the Supreme Court of Nigeria,” he said.
Amechi-Ude insists that Kanu was not arrested but that he was actually kidnapped from Kenya in 2021, where he was campaigning for the freedom of his people.
“The agents of the Nigerian government went to Kenya with some British people and took him back to Nigeria by force, and now he has been held in solitary confinement and his health has deteriorated,” said Amechi-Ude.
“Kanu is being ill-treated in detention and he is denied an opportunity to be treated by a medical doctor of his choice,” he said.
“A competent court in Nigeria has ruled that no court in that country has the jurisdiction to put him on trial but President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and his cohorts refuse to let him go,” he said.
Amechi-Ude also added that the Nigeria goverment is using their military to commit genocides against Biafrans till date.
Extrajudicial killing, rape, and organ of Biafrans been harvested.
Arrested Boko Haram members are re-integrated into the Nigeria army.
Fulanis terrorists are in Biafra Land massacring Biafrans.
When arrested by the community, they will be released.
“We been to many places to seek intervention and held peaceful march and hand over memorandums and petitions but no response and nothing and we don’t know where to go now and what to do,” he said.
IPOB showing public how Biafra people are killed photo by Dimakatso Modipa
An IPOB member who was dressed in a somewhat outrageous, mammoth-like attire, explained that his attire is a spiritual garb that is worn by Igbo people of Biafra when connecting with their ancestors.
The man explained that the garb is called the Mau, meaning the beauty of the spirit and that wearing it is an indication to the whole world that the ancestors of Biafra who fought for the freedom of that region are with them in their endeavours.
In 1967 the region of Biafra unilaterally declared independence from mother country Nigeria, but the freedom was short-lived by a war which lasted for three years until 1970 with the defeat of Biafra forces by the military operatives of the Federal Government of Nigeria.