Nnamdi Kanu does not need Ikedife’s endorsement

By Tim Tochukwu

For Biafra Choice Writers

Kanu: Prisoner of conscience

“The only advice for Ikedife is that he should take a cue from Justice Eze Ozobu, a former Chief Justice of Enugu State, who was in fact the Chairman of the defunct Biafra Council of Elders. As a decent elder, Ozobu has kept his peace allowing the younger generation to do their thing.”

Nnamdi Kanu, leader of Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and Director of Radio Biafra, spent his birthday in prison yesterday, Sunday, April 17. That is something that would never have happened if he were a leader like many people who claim to lead Igbo Biafrans today. He went through it because of his leadership style – leadership by example.

Going by reasons of his birth, there are privileges Kanu should be enjoying today, which he spurned to fight for the freedom of his people. He is the first son of a rich, comfortable, and prominent traditional ruler in Biafraland. He could therefor enjoy all manners of comfort. He had; for instance, the privilege of staying in his cozy and beautiful home in London to enjoy the closeness of a beautiful wife and children on his birthday. But he chose to suffer for the Freedom of Biafra, receiving detention and torture from the Nigerian state.

In spite of this people like Dozie Ikedife, a former President of a discredited Igbo group known as Ohanaeze, could still lie against him. In a recent interview in the Sun Newspapers, the more than 80 years old medical doctor said of Kanu, “People say Nnamdi Kanu is the leader of IPOB. The truth is that Kanu is the Director of Radio Biafra. We founded the IPOB, not Kanu. In the IPOB we founded, there is division of labour. Kanu only handled the communication wing of the organi­zation but he went ahead to arrogate himself as the founder of the IPOB because of the instrumentality of the Radio Biafra.”

It surprising that at his age, Ikedife does not know that a leader is someone people follow because of his principles and stances. In the case of Kanu, people do not only follow him because of his principles, but also because of his leadership by example; and his uncompromising stance to stay the course on those principles.

Ikedife may have his say, but Biafrans know who their leaders are, that is why they shut down Biafraland for weeks as they protested his detention. Biafrans know that Radio Biafra was single-handedly established by Nnamdi Kanu, with initial funding for AM transmission from Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASOB). Biafrans equally knew that when the payment for AM transmission ran out that MASSOB refused to provide further payment because Ralph Uwazuruike, the then MASSOB leader had been compromised by Nigerian government.

Uwazuruike: sold-out agent to Nigerian government

Even when Kanu and other members of Radio Biafra Editorial Board visited Nigeria to speak with Uwazuruike, he refused to see them. Instead, Uwazuruike called on the Nigerian Police to arrest them. His reason was that they had vowed to campaign against the coming election. It is on record that when the Nigerian Police refused to do that, Uwazuruike did it himself – he had his men torture Kanu; they stripped him naked, flogged him and had women urinate on him.

It through the doggedness of Nnamdi Kanu and Uche Mefor that Radio Biafra restarted broadcasts, but this time through the Internet, since there was no fund to pay for AM broadcasts. The resumption of AM and FM broadcasts resumed when Biafrans were organized enough to start funding.

Biafrans know that Ikedife did not appoint Nnamdi Kanu as Director of Radio Biafra, but that Kanu appointed him as Deputy Chairman of Biafra Council of Elders. In fact, Ikedife’s case is a pathetic one. Ikedife was appointed by Nnamdi Kanu, when the idea of bringing the elders into the struggle, to fulfill the Biafran known culture of respect to elders. Unfortunately, Ikedife and co betrayed the trust Biafrans had for they started hobnobbing with Nigerian government.

It was particularly discovered that despite the agreement that nobody in the struggle should have dealings with Nigerian government or Nigerian government officials, but Ikedife and his cohorts were cavorting with Rochas Okorocha, the Governor of Imo State, a well-known Islamic agent in Biafraland.

Ikedife and cohorts with Buhari

As if that was not enough, at the coming of the Muslim Brotherhood party known as All Progressives Congress (APC), Ikedife and co quickly jumped on board. They wanted to quickly get back at Goodluck Jonathan who they accused of appointing younger people in his government without giving positions to the elders. That was why IPOB completely kept them out of the struggle.

Ignored and rejected, they have been doing everything to rubbish Nnamdi Kanu. They have concocted lies and raised all manner of childish arguments against him. Just recently, some of them said Kanu should not be pulling out innocent young men and women in the streets to die; that he should bring out his own children. How thoughtless can some people be? The young man is in the frontline of the struggle and receiving everything thrown at IPOB – insults, persecutions, and ostracisms – yet some people are saying he should bring his children to join struggle.

Meanwhile are mere toddlers – his second son is around four months old; given birth to while his father was in detention. Kanu’s mother, brothers and sisters are always at Biafra meetings and protests. How thoughtless and callous can people be?

Well, that Kanu is the leader of IPOB is not in doubt. Nobody needs Ikedife’s endorsement to know who the IPOB leader is. The European Union leadership that Biafrans have demonstrated in front of their headquarters knows who IPOB leader is. The United Nations (UN), the British Parliament, the American Congress, and countries where Biafrans have demonstrated for Kanu’s release are well aware who IPOB leader is.

The only advice for Ikedife is that he should take a cue from Justice Eze Ozobu, a former Chief Justice of Enugu State, who was in fact the Chairman of the defunct Biafra Council of Elders. As a decent elder, Ozobu has kept his peace allowing the younger generation to do their thing. Nnamdi Kanu does not need Ikedife's endorsement to lead IPOB.