Emmanuel, brother of Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the Indigenous People of
Biafra, IPOB, has stated that the group will forge ahead with its
agitation.
He insisted that IPOB is non-violent yet strong and will not be intimidated.
“Freedom is not given by the oppressor; it is seized by the
oppressed. As long as what we do is in line with international laws, we
will continue with the struggle (for an independent state of Biafra)”,
he told Punch.
“We remain a non-arms-carrying group and also a non-violent movement.
We do not believe that carrying arms will ever solve any problem. We
believe in genuine engagement; that’s what IPOB stands for.
“The leadership and the entire membership of IPOB are too intelligent
to carry arms because we know that violence has never solved any
problem, so we don’t believe in violence. This is Nnamdi Kanu’s
ideology: we don’t give and we cannot take life. We don’t know anything
about the said rifles.”
On the whereabouts of his father and brother, Emmanuel said Nigerians should ask the military.
“We strongly believe that the Nigerian Army whisked them away because
since the day the soldiers invaded our house, we have not seen the duo
and have not communicated with them. The army is in a better position to
answer that question.
“They invaded our homes and took away many people – both the dead and
the living. So, we are expecting them (the soldiers) to tell us their
whereabouts. We have been asking questions about their whereabouts; we
have yet to get any answer.
“So, we believe the invading soldiers are the right people to answer
the question. They whisked away about 15 of them. They killed two of my
cousins as well – they shot them dead in my compound.
“The whole thing started on the morning of September 14. First of
all, they killed two of our ‘brothers’ in front of Diamond Bank, on
Library Avenue, opposite Abia State Government House and took their
remains away.“After some investigations, we discovered that they took the corpses
to a mortuary at Isiala Ngwa Local Government Area and dumped the bodies
there. I have photographs to prove that. My community looks like a war
zone up till now. People are being harassed and dehumanised by the
soldiers every day.
“The soldiers are still in our community. We are still looking for
some of our members in the community. Hopefully, before the end of the
week we would have concluded on the number of people missing. If you
visit my compound, you will discover that everywhere is covered with
blood – even our dog, Jack, was shot dead.”