The family of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, the detained Leader of the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra, has challenged South East Governors and Igbo leaders to explain why they had suddenly gone silent on Nigeria’s restructuring after mounting intense pressure on Kanu in 2017 to drop his agitation for Biafra and embrace restructuring in accordance with the 1960 and 1963 constitutions.
Kanu’s younger brother, Prince Emmanuel, who spoke exclusively with our Correspondent in Umuahia, expressed surprise that “nobody is talking of restructuring again after those leaders, although without success, wanted Kanu to drop agitation for self-determination and agree to a restructured Nigeria.
He claimed that at the height of the agitation, the leaders drew Kanu to a meeting in Enugu and put him under pressure to accept restructuring, a demand to which Kanu agreed with a condition.
According to Kanu’s brother, some respected Igbo leaders, including the late Vice President, Dr Alex Ekwueme, Chief Mbazulike Amaechi, and Professor Ben Nwabueze, made a similar proposal to the IPOB Leader prior to the meeting with South East Governors in Enugu.
“Precisely on August 30, 2017, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu met with South East Governors,” he said. In fact, prior to the meeting, he met with the late Dr Alex Ekwueme, who pressed him to agree on restructuring Nigeria in accordance with the 1960 and 1963 Constitutions.
“The late Chief Mbazulike Amaechi and Professor Ben Nwabueze both said the same thing to him. They put pressure on him to accept restructuring.
” I remember he told them including the South East Governors that if they start negotiations on restructuring, he would tone down agitation for 12 months, but shockingly the South East Governors never related these messages to the Federal Government. They swept it under the rug, and four days later, our house was invaded during the infamous Operation Python Dance ll”.
Prince Emmanuel questioned the South East Governors’ true motivations for the Enugu meeting with his brother because they never raised the issue of restructuring even after his father’s compound was raided.
” So we’re wondering: was the reason they invited him to that meeting to murder him? This is because there were things we noticed along the way to that meeting, but such observations are better revealed by Onyendu (Kanu) himself.”
“Unfortunately, the trauma from the invasion of our compound was what killed my parents,” Prince Emmanuel said, adding that the family will not forget the ordeal easily.
As a result, he wondered why the call for restructuring had subsided since then.
“How come, until today, no one has mentioned the Enugu discussion? Why are the governors and senators of the South East remaining silent?
“At the meeting, they attempted to persuade Nnamdi Kanu that restructuring was preferable to outright Biafra. As a result, Igbo leaders proposed restructuring.
” At the meeting, my brother told them that if they were serious about it, he would want everyone – the necessary stakeholders – to be present for genuine discussions on how to move Nigeria forward.
” He told them that the federal government and the other nationalities that make up Nigeria needed to meet for serious talks. But could that argument that my brother was insisting on be what they were trying to avoid by invading our home?
“Now, my question to the Federal Government, South East Governors, and Igbo leaders is, why are they deafeningly silent on restructuring? “Why isn’t restructuring mentioned again?”
Kanu’s brother also questioned why the world has remained silent about the IPOB Leader’s continued detention despite several court rulings ordering his immediate and unconditional release.
“Why is everyone quiet even after the Umuahia Federal High Court and the Abuja Court of Appeal ordered my brother’s immediate release? Injustice to Kanu is injustice all over the world, not just in Nigeria!”
Kanu’s brother stated that Nigerian leaders must be sincere and stop being hypocritical about real national issues if they truly care about the country, and that the truth will not be suppressed indefinitely.
