The South-East Renewal Group (SERG) has berated Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), over his position on the 2019 general election.
The group said Kanu’s declaration that there will be no election in the South-East, which he claimed to be ‘Biafra territory’, is a joke that should not be taken seriously.On Sunday, Kanu addressed a world press conference via an audio broadcast, 13 months after he vanished following a raid on his home by the military in September 2017. In the audio broadcast, Kanu stated that he was back and would “bring hell” upon his return.
However, a statement by Charles Mbani, National President of SERG on Monday, rebuked Kanu for looking to “cause trouble for the people of South-East of Nigeria origin, who have spent the last one year rebuilding confidence with their neighbours in their bid to repair the damages caused by previous bellicose behaviour of him and his IPOB members”.
It promised to “physically deliver him to the nearest police station for onward transportation to appear in court” if he ever sets foot upon the country SERG declared that Nnamdi Kanu and the faction of IPOB do not speak for the Igbo as a people. The statement read: “His utterances are at variance with the belief of the people of the South-East Nigeria, who are cultured, have maximum regards for Nigerians of other ethnic stocks, believe in the unity of Nigeria, while they continue to clamour for restructuring that will promote equity, respect constituted authority and institutions and will never descend low to the point of disparaging other human beings.
“The annals have recorded it that Nnamdi Kanu is a coward, who incited promising Igbo youth to throw away their lives literarily and figuratively. He threw the entire South-East into confusion and pocketed the money raised from suffering Igbo masses only for him to escape when the people had erroneously thought he had something in stock for them.
“It is the height of insult to the Igbo sensibility for him to think that putting up this charade from the Holy Land will fool Ndi Igbo another round. If he is broke and wants to use this latest performance to finance his drug-addled life, he should have a rethink and look for honest work to pay his own bills.
“We strongly believe that his desperation for money has made him team up with those that are out to frustrate the Igbo agenda and interest. We say this because it is curious that Kanu had hidden for so long as a common criminal, only for him to turn up at a time when the political fortunes of the South East are improving with the nomination of one of our own, Mr. Peter Obi, as a vice presidential candidate in next year’s election.
“SERG hereby categorically places Nnamdi Kanu, IPOB and any miscreant that buys into the poisonous ideology they promote that not only will election hold in the South-East but that people will also come out to exercise their voting rights without being molested.
“Igbo will mobilize to ensure this chance is not lost, certainly not in this lifetime. On the other hand, at the end of the general election, which would hold everywhere in a united Nigeria, Kanu would have proven beyond doubt that he is a liar and an utter symbol of falsehood that is at best treated as a pariah.
“As for Kanu’s threat to continue skipping bail while visiting ‘Biafraland’, SERG strongly advises him to turn himself over to the court and stand trial since he claimed to have revelations that will rattle Nigeria. He is guaranteed to spend a sizeable portion of his remaining years in jail, if only to atone for our youth that he misled to their deaths.
“Since there is no internationally recognised nation called Biafra, we dare Kanu to step foot anywhere in Nigeria — within or outside the South-East — and SERG members will physically deliver him to the nearest Police station for onward transportation to appear in court.”
