Detained leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, and Nnamdi Kanu has asserted that IPOB is not in the business of betrayal and as such would rather prefer to die than to renounce Biafra and abandon the struggle for its restoration.
In a press statement signed by its spokespersons, Emma Nmezu and Dr. Clifford Iroanya, in reaction to the recent statement credited to members of the Movement for Emancipation of Niger Delta, MEND to the effect that a negotiation could be reached with the federal government to release Kanu and then he would renounce Biafra, IPOB quoted Kanu as saying that Biafra’s restoration is not subject of negotiation.
The statement entitled: “Biafra or death”, added that if there should be any form of negotiation at all, it must be centred on asset sharing between Nigeria and Biafra and on the payment of reparations for money stolen from Biafrans by Nigeria through the 1970 twenty pounds deal and other subsequent acts of thievery by Nigeria against Biafrans.
According to the statement, “We want to make it categorically clear that MEND and their Ahithophel Team are strictly on their own and do not in any way, shape or form represent IPOB or the leader of IPOB, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu. When we say “Biafra or Death”, we meant every syllable of that phrase”.
“Again, we reiterate that Nnamdi Kanu is not Ralph Uwazuruike and IPOB is not MASSOB. Therefore, anybody thinking that our leader will renounce Biafra is certifiably mad. For both IPOB and their leader, Nnamdi Kanu, it is either we get Biafra or we die on the process of getting it. There is no middle ground”.