The leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu has in an interview, reiterated that any attempt to re-arrest him will make the country burn – He also stated that the decision to boycott the Anambra election stands.

In the interview with Sun News, the IPOB leader said he has seen hope in the places he has visited since he was released.

“What I have seen so far is much enthusiasm. I have seen hope, the rekindling of hope and I have seen the burning desire for genuine change and the call for freedom which is exactly what we are doing and pursuing. There is no visiting dignitary, Head of State, political or religious leader that has been able to command the type of crowd that come out anywhere I visit or any town I go to. It has never been replicated or set as a precedence ever before… If I were to visit Lagos, it will be the same, If were to go to Kano, it will be the same thing. People will come out to see me because I preach the truth,” he said.

On the Anambra election, Mr Kanu said, “I gave a speech in Aba, Abia State on Sunday and I made it absolutely clear that the boycott stays. We must boycott election in Anambra State. It is our civic responsibility to do so and that’s what we are going to do – total and absolute boycott, to let the whole world understand the strength of IPOB on the ground, in Anambra State.”

On his re-arrest, he said it cannot happen again like before when the government orders an arrest and it happens.

“I don’t care! Quote me verbatim. If I’m re-arrested, this country will burn, I assure you. From where that oil money they depend on, they can no longer have access to it. I assure them that. This is not empty threat. We’re IPOB, we don’t abandon our own,” he continued.

On the realisation of Biafra, he said, “I will sacrifice anything including my family to ensure that Biafra is restored. Any obstacle on my way will be obliterated. I’m not asking for Sokoto; I’m not asking for Kaduna, or Borno, I said this very land where my progenitors raised us; the land of our ancestors; of over 5, 000 years old, this land must be free, absolutely free, I assure you of that. The way we were before the whiteman came; had the white man not come, I would have no relationship with Sokoto, non whatsoever. The whiteman is not God, only God can create a nation, Lord Luguard is not God, only God can create a nation. I can tell you the day Nigeria was created even till the exact second and hour, but you can’t tell me when Biafra was created. It came as a result of organic interaction of cultures and value systems and traditions fussed into one to make Biafra a possibility, that is how nations emerge. By the collision of commonalities and value systems, not one idiot somewhere pontificating and dictating to us who should be in a country or not. Other African people can accept it, Nnamdi kanu cannot accept that. The whiteman is not God and cannot create a country for me. Have Nigerians sat round the table to say we have agreed that our name is Nigeria? We want to live together; perhaps, there will be a strong argument against what I’m proposing. Right now, what we are seeking to do is go back to where we were before 1914. From there, we can then begin to negotiate and discuss.”

Reacting to a question on what might happen if he visits anywhere outside the Southeast, he said, “I have a lot of friends in Lagos and Southern Kaduna too. When the time comes, I will visit those places. You spoke about my security, but I’m telling you that I’m not living any more.What you are seeing is but an empty shell that is only seeking for Biafra.”

Omoleye Omoruyi

Omoleye Omoruyi… an apprentice web/game developer, novelist, sensitive to happenings in the world. Meet him @Lord_rickie on Twitter/Instagram