As tension heightens in the South East states over the total lockdown declared for today by the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), a sister pro-Biafran group, Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) has asked Igbo leaders to demand the immediate release of IPOB leader, Nnamdi Kanu.
IPOB had in a statement on Tuesday, signed by its Head of Directorate of State, Mazi Chika Edoziem, declared today September 9, as a day of civil disobedience and sit-at-home in all the states in Igbo land to protest the planned visit of President Muhammadu Buhari today to Imo State.
The group stated that for “kidnapping” its leader, Kanu and “illegally detaining him is an added reason disqualifying Buhari from even contemplating visiting and setting his feet on the sacred land of Biafra.”
But in a statement issued yesterday by MASSOB National Director of Information, Edeson Samuel, the group advised the political, traditional, religious and opinion leaders of Igbo land to demand from President Buhari the release of Kanu as he visits Imo and Ebonyi states.
MASSOB which was silent about the IPOB sit-at-home order said, “It is imperative that Mazi Nnamdi Kanu is being subjected to inhuman torture at the DSS detention cage because of Ndigbo. He represents the aspirations of Ndigbo in Nigeria.
“MASSOB advises Igbo political leaders to use the occasion of President Muhamadu Buhari’s visit to revive the lost confidence and hope, Ndigbo bestowed on them by telling Buhari that Ndigbo are not being treated as co citizens. They must demand for the release of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu from detention.”
The group reiterated that what Ndigbo wanted was Biafra from Nigeria stressing that “We can never deviate from this clamour for independence of Biafra Republic.”
Credit: The Sun