KANU AND IPOB ACTS: THE IGBOS SHOULD BE FAIR TO THEMSELVES AND CALL A SPADE A SPADE.

BY MANSIR LAWAL KAWARE, KATSINA STATE – 08036355591

26/6/2026

A Federal High Court sitting in Abuja, presided by Justice James Omotosho sentenced the leader of Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) Nnamdi Kanu to life imprisonment on 20th November, 2025 over seven count terrorism related charges.  He was convicted after being found guilty of counts one, fourth, fifth and six along with concurrent prison terms.

The separatist group which was founded in 2012 has Kanu as its leader with Uche Mefor as its Deputy leader.  The IPOB was established with an intent to restore the defunct Republic of Biafra which seceded from Nigeria in 1967 under Colonel Odumegwu Ojukwu.  That action caused the Nigerian Civil War which lasted in 1970 with the defeat of Biafran Army by the wing of the Nigerian Armed Forces.  For Kanu to now plan actualizing that Republic, he was challenging the sovereignty of Nigeria as one indivisible entity as enshrined by chapter I part 1 section 2 of the 1999 constitution of Nigeria as amended.  He was, therefore, arrested.  He was however, released on bail by Justice, Binta Nyako of a Federal High Court in Abuja on health ground. But Nnamdi Kanu jumped bail and left the country.

However, he was later re-arrested in Kenya and repatriated to Nigeria and suprisingly there were shoutings from some quarters as to why he was re-arrested in that manner.  To the dismay of Nigerians, Senator Enyinaya Abaribe, a Senate Minority leader of that time who stood for the bail of Kanu said he had no regret for Kanu’s jumping bail and vowed to stand in again for Kanu if the court offered another bail for him.  Senator Abaribe was not punished for Kanu’s jumping bail, but Senator Ali Ndume was detained when he stood for the bail of Abdulrashid Maina who jumped his bail.  More so, Maina was being charged for misappropriating pension fund, while Kanu was charged for treason. Justice Okon Abanyi of Abuja Federal High Court released Ali Ndume on bail after spending five days in Kuje correctional centre because Maina jumped bail.

Some people may question the freedom of Sunday Igboho, who led a similar body like that of Nmandi Kanu which is seeking for an independent Yoruba nation.  But in 2021, he had to flee Nigeria when the DSS attempted to arrest him at his Soka residence in Ibadan, the capital of Oyo State.  He escaped to Cotonou in Benin Republic, but was arrested at the Cotonou International Airport in July 2021 trying to board a plane to Germany with his wife.  It should, however, be observed that while IPOB the group led by Kanu kills its people, the one led by Igboho does not kill its people as opposed to IPOB that assassinates its own in the name of emancipating them.

It is clear that the Yorubas do not take the lives of their own people in the name of struggle unless if it is a conflict among themselves.  One can recall that in early 2000, during OPC struggle, the Militant wing of OPC attacked northerners and other ethnic groups, but not the Yorubas.  But the Nnamdi Kanu’s IPOB introduced what they called sit-at-home rule, under which they killed and maimed their Igbo brothers and sisters as well as any other passerby who are considered to have broken the rule.  This can be attested to by the statement from Senator Uzor Kalu which says over 30,000 Igbos lost their lives in the hands of Mazi Kanu IPOB members.  As a serving Senator and former Governor from the region, Uzor Kalu could’nt have spoken in a vacuum.  Although IPOB denied the Senator’s claim asking him to produce an evidence through their spokesman Emma powerful, who signed a Press Statement on behalf of the group, but the IPOB had equally failed to attach an evidence to their statement to prove their own part of the claim to disprove what the Senator revealed.

It is quite wonderful, that on Wednesday 17h June, 2026 it was announced that Kanu who is serving a life jail term has dissolved the Directorate of IPOB and replaced it with another set of leaders on the ground that they do not show much attention about his imprisonment.  This action has raised questions about his activities at the correctional centre.  Does it mean he is still coordinating activities of the group, which has kept people of the South East on their toes ?

At this juncture, the Igbos need to think twice.  They know that they are suffering in silence, the open support and agitation they do for the release of Kanu is nothing but shedding Crocodile tears because he is a poison to them, but they are quite for the sake of their own safety. How can a person lead a gang of some armed elements within your own area and start convincing them into a mission that is fruitless ?  They need to read the history of the Nigerian Civil War which involves the same region.  That secession was carried out by trained military personnel who were part of the military establishment, but could see how it ended.  As the adage goes, where General Gowon used to say “To keep Nigeria one is a task that must be done”. And so it REMAINS.  Would people of Igbo extraction reluctantly abandoned their future in the hands of some people that could not actualize it.  As it is, there is still military cantonments across the Igbo states under the President and Commander – In- Chief of the Nigerian Armed Forces.  Could the Igbos allow these IPOB members mislead them and take them into a ditch ?

 What have they been doing all these years that they have not gone to Abuja and forced the President and members of the National Assembly to sign Biafra out for them ?? The Inspector General of Police and the service chiefs could not be pushed out of office by IPOB.  A leader that could take to his heels  from court to a foreign country  still be given directives even from prison on what is not realistic and the Igbo hopelessly fold their arms and continue following him blindly.  His authority is only linked to those living in the region, then can he get them out of the bondage, if at all there is any?

Instead of emancipation, it is the Igbos that are suffering in the hands of IPOB, while the same Igbo race that are out of the region cannot visit it freely.  Wealthy Igbos who want to go home from other parts of Nigeria either for private visits, Christmas, wedding or burial ceremonies have to go with Police Escort or other security Agents for the period of their stay as a safety necessity. Ordinary citizens have to go in line with IPOB rules for them to also live safely.  But everyone is asking for the release of Kanu for fear of their lives.  Peter Obi was even reported saying if he wins as President he would release Kanu.  We do not know, whether Peter Obi is campaigning to be Nigerian President or an Igbo President.

If Kanu is a Prince, how many Princes and sitting Monarchs are in Igbo land?  If he is a wealthy individual, how many rich men and women are in Igbo land?  If it is because he lives in a foreign country, how many Igbos are living abroad?  If he can operate from prison, it means the nightmare of the Igbos over IPOB activities is far from an end.  If we are to take the census of Igbo people, the IPOB could hardly reach ten people in every village, that means their membership is not greater than that of the remaining people.  Why then would the majority Igbo people allow themselves to be turned into slaves by their own children?  They are only wasting their time as the agitation is not realisable.  After all, the IPOB members are vulnerable, because the late Chief of Army Staff Lt. Gen. Ibrahim Attahiru appointed on 26th January, 2021 and  died in a plane crash on 21st May, 2021 was asked about the IPOB and Sunday Igboho Groups, and he simply said “We are coming to them”.  That statement sent jitters to the group members as they started shouting that the military should leave them alone and go to North and fight Boko Haram insurgence, banditry, kidnapping and cattle rustling.  That means they know they cannot withstand the fire power of the military.  How then do they intend to liberate and secede from the Nigerian entity ?  They are only killing and maiming as well as causing loss of properties of innocent people.

These calls for release of Kanu are unnecessary, because he is not a political prisoner. He is a person tried and convicted by a court of law of competent jurisdiction for having a hand in the IPOB criminal offences.

The Igbo leaders should now call a spade- a- spade by coming together and taking a decision against the IPOB body that is causing mayhem to their race.  They need to give the Tinubu led Federal Government support  and necessary backing so that it clears this menace off the road for the peace of Igbo land in particular and the Nation in general.  If individuals or groups that are nothing but perpetrators of crime are supported to turn themselves into an illegal authority, people would continue to live in bondage without any visible solution that could lead to its end . That should not be the case.

Mansir Lawal Kaware is a Graduate of Conflict Resolution