Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), remains unwavering in his stance against the marginalization of the South-East region, even if released from detention, his brother, Kanunta Kanu, has revealed.
Speaking to DAILY POST, Kanunta emphasized that Kanu’s demands have always centered on improving the living conditions in the South-East and not necessarily the pursuit of Biafra.
“His release will not change anything because he made a simple demand on August 30, 2017, at the Enugu State Government House, which was the time of Obiano.
“In the eight agenda he gave to them, he never made mention of anything about Biafra.
“He said you will have to provide us with what we need, which are good roads, hospitals, education, build factories to create employment; these were his demands, it’s everywhere,” Kanunta stated.
He further argued that if the government cannot meet these demands, it should consider revisiting the 1960 constitution, which grants regional autonomy.
According to Kanunta, Kanu has never set the actualization of Biafra as a condition for reducing his agitation.
“His demands are very simple, do all he asked you to do – in a worst-case scenario where they can’t meet all these things, why can’t they think about going back to the 1960 constitution that gives people regional autonomy? Those were his demands, he never mentioned Biafra as a condition for him to tone down agitation,” Kanunta stated.
Asked if Kanu would ease his demands if progress was made, Kanunta said, “He is still there with them, they should dialogue with him; why is it difficult for them to dialogue with him? That is where the problem is, they don’t want to dialogue with him but he is the right person that can tell them this is what I want; there are people he is working for who understand but they have to dialogue with him.
“After that 2017 meeting, what did they do? Dave Umahi who was the then Chairman of the Southeast Governors Forum went to Abuja and sent Operation Python Dance to come to my house and kill everybody, that was exactly what happened.”
Kanunta described his brother as resolute and well-meaning, insisting that agitation would cease if the government fulfilled its responsibilities.
“Anybody who knows Kanu should know that he’s resolute and never a problem, he meant well for everybody till tomorrow.
“There won’t be the need for agitation, because if everybody is comfortable, there won’t be so much talk about Kanu; is he the only one agitating? Sowore is there agitating, the Northern part of Nigeria is saying the same thing that they are being suppressed.
“The people are tired of the union; something must change, it’s time Mr President must call the people and listen to them, there is no way we can allow the United Kingdom to be running Nigeria from London,” he noted.
He also criticized the government’s refusal to obey court orders, saying such actions undermine the judiciary and erode trust in the system.
“There are a lot of court orders but the Nigerian government has refused to obey these orders which is very sad and that means nothing meaningful will happen in Nigeria because the judiciary, the masses, and journalists that should come out and say enough of this mess are not saying enough.
“I don’t think anybody is comfortable in this country, Nigeria; how can you buy a bag of rice for N100,000; how much is people’s salary? Nobody should blame anybody, what we are seeking is a better life, the price of petrol is adding – in Venezuela, it’s the opposite side of it – so what is wrong in that country, that’s the question everybody is asking; so nobody should blame anybody for agitating because if Nigeria is functioning nobody will want to do that but at the moment, it’s not functioning and it will never function, unless they do a thorough overhauling in that country,” Kanunta concluded.