David-Chyddy Eleke in Awka
The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has disowned the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) over the purported negotiation with the federal government for the release of Mr. Nnamdi Kanu, the Director General of Radio Biafra and leader of IPOB.
Its Publicity Secretary, Emma Powerful, who stated this in a statement to THISDAY in Awka, said IPOB under Kanu did not ask MEND to negotiate for the release its leader, saying it is unfortunate for MEND to claim to be negotiating for the release its leader without their full knowledge.
Part of the statement read: “We the members of IPOB worldwide and people of Biafra can never accept any little conditional attachment towards the release of our leader, Kanu and other members detained alongside with him because they did not commit any crime, we can only accept the unconditional release of our leader nothing more and nothing less.”
Kanu was arrested by the Department of State Services (DSS) in Lagos on October 14, 2015 and taken to Abuja where he was later charged to court.
Speaking on the alleged negotiation entered into on its behalf by MEND, the IPOB media officer said MEND’s agreement with the federal government to release their leader with the agreement for him to renounce and jettison the struggle for the restoration of Biafra shows that MEND is not even aware of the groups unshaken resolve.
“MEND is a group that does not know what it is looking for and a group that decided to stay and use the plights of their people to make demands from the federal government, but everybody knows that Kanu is not the type who will sabotage the people of Biafra.”
Powerful said a lot of people have sacrificed their lives for the restoration of Biafra and it would be a suicidal thoughtsand mission for some groups or individuals to come towards the end of the total liberation of the people of Biafra to cause confusion, and that such will not be accept.
He urged MEND to take a cue from real freedom fighters like the Niger Delta Avengers (NDA), who he said have sacrificed all to ensure liberation for their people.