Buhari should not provoke us to war – Nnamdi Kanu

Leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra ( IPOB) , Nnamdi Kanu has advised President Muhammadu Buhari against provoking another civil war in Nigeria by threatening to deal with freedom fighters as ter­rorists. Kanu who gave the advice yesterday in Umuahia was reacting to Buhari’s recent broadcast and Tuesday’s alleged directive to security chiefs to handle the agi­tations for self-determination the same way as Boko Haram and herdsmen menace.
The IPOB Leader argued that it was illogical for Buhari to group Biafran agitators with a global ter­ror organisations like Boko Ha­ram and Fulani herdsmen. Kanu advised Buhari to rather concen­trate efforts on governance and how to take Nigeria out of eco­nomic recession instead of issu­ing threats to intimidate genuine agitators.
He said Buhari should emulate former US President, Dwight Eisenhower who was a former military commander but turned a democrat when he was voted into power. His words: “The directive to service chiefs to clamp down on IPOB is a continuation of the Buhari’s dictatorial and undemo­cratic approach to governance. I find it unacceptable, abhorrent, and insulting that somebody elected by the people can turn around to dictate to them. Buhari was elected to govern Nigeria; he should get on with the business of governance and not try to instigate another war.”
Kanu, however, said IPOB would not be forced to take up arms no matter the provocation. “We have refused to be provoked to arms rebellion. That is what Bu­hari is looking for. Buhari wants a war but we won’t oblige him be­cause we are civilised people. We are democrats at heart by nature and by essence.”
He however, said that no amount of threat or intimida­tion would make him give up the struggles for Biafra autonomy because it is a genuine cause. He challenged Buhari to defeat advo­cates of self -determination with superior arguments on why Nige­ria should continue as one indivis­ible country instead of thinking he could cow them into submission by force.
“This notion and idea that we can intimidate them or bang them into submission does not work with Nnamdi Kanu. I only respond to reason and logic. I am not scared by threats. Defeat me with superior arguments not with the force of arms because it won’t work with me. Nigeria never de­feated Biafra. Britain and other devilish powers did. Nigeria can never defeat Biafra.”
Kanu accused Buhari of hypoc­risy by supporting the indepen­dence bid of Palestine and West­ern Sahara on the one hand while clamping down on Biafran agita­tors on the other. His words: “How come Buhari is supporting Pales­tinian self-determination, West­ern Sahara self-determination but wants Biafrans to be killed? That is sheer monumental hypocrisy. I want everybody liberated – Yo­ruba, Igbo, Jukun, Ijaw, Ibibio, etc. Convince me why Nigeria is a bet­ter option using sensible reason­able argument and not threats”.
Kanu further maintained that IPOB is a non- violent organisa­tion which does not justifiably de­serve equal treatment with Boko Haram and herdsmen which have taken up arms against the people.
According to Kanu, “We are not armed and we can never be armed. IPOB has done a lot to free other ethnic nationalities from the Caliphate’s bondage of retrogres­sion and economic emasculation. Other ethnic nationalities should be grateful to IPOB for giving them the courage and the heart to speak up and say they are not slaves.
“We are not afraid because IPOB is a peaceful mass movement and not a violent arms group. IPOB is a non-violent peaceful mass movement. There is no recorded event of an injury being sustained in any of the numerous IPOB gatherings. People converge in their millions to listen to this gospel of the resto­ration of Biafra.
“We are the most disciplined; most well- behaved mass move­ment anywhere on the face of the earth despite the genocidal kill­ings, arbitrary arrests, illegal de­tentions without trial.
Kanu provided explanations on the formation of the Biafra Securi­ty Services (BSS), saying the secret police was set up to gather intelligence and not to bear arms con­trary to some media reports. Ac­cording to him, BSS was basically inaugurated to gather intelligence about the October 1 quit notice to Igbo living in the North; and to also defend communities in Biafra land against herdsmen invasion.
He vehemently denied setting up any army contrary to specula­tions, dismissing it as a fabrication of media outfits to attract reader­ship and wider patronage. Kanu also said it was a ploy by the en­emies to justify their plot to use crude force against peaceful agita­tors.
“No army was set up. Forget the distortions you see in the media. They only do so to attract traffic. What we have is only BSS set up to give us intelligence regarding the October 1 quit notice to Ndigbo living in the North. We are stu­dents of history. The same thing happened in 1966. No adequate arrangements were made to cater for the safe return of our people from the North and as a result, hundreds of thousands of people were massacred.
“All that IPOB is trying to do is to avoid the reoccurrence of the 1966 genocidal massacre of inno­cent Igbo men, women and chil­dren in the North. It is to prevent the menace of Fulani herdsmen which Buhari cleverly avoided to mention during his broadcast be­cause they are his kinsmen. This means that he supports the killings of innocent people by herdsmen as a way of expanding their Islamic domination agenda
“The majority of our people across South South and South East support what IPOB is doing. They also support the formation of BSS that will take care of this land in terms of its security needs. Attacks by the rampaging Hausa/ Fulani herdsmen will be a thing of the past. We can no longer allow it to go on.”
“ People talk about BSS as if it is something new. They have the Shariah police in the North, they also have the Hisbah police in the North answerable to Islamic courts. In the West they have OPC but here in the South East we have nothing. Why is it that when I want to safeguard the interest of Biafra, they begin to kick against it?”
Asked how BSS would confront the rampaging herdsmen since the former is not armed, Kanu said “We don’t need arms to disarm people who are carrying guns; we know the terrains of our villages better than they”.
Continuing he said: “We shall disarm them and stop them from rampaging and invading our com­munities. I don’t want some ethnic bigots occupying the corridors of power to provoke us into arms confrontation by sending troops masquerading as herdsmen to come and attack Biafra land.