The All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) says Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), has no authority to speak for the Igbo people.
The party said this in reaction to the IPOB leader’s call on people to boycott the Anambra governorship election scheduled for November.
In a letter addressed to Kanu and signed by Ifeatu Obiokoye, national publicity secretary, APGA said the call was “irresponsible and devoid of intellectual focus.”
It said the Igbo people had not “instituted a separatist movement or a terrorist gang” but were concerned about “Nigeria’s present structural arrangement.”
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“Kanu has no authority to speak for the Igbo of the south-east, though APGA acknowledges him as the leader of IPOB,” the letter read.
“His call for a boycott of elections in the south-east, beginning with the governorship polls scheduled for November 18, 2017, in Anambra is irresponsible, irredentist and totally devoid of any focus.
“You must appreciate that for different logical reasons and perception, the Biafra concept has attracted favourable comments among our people, ostensibly borne out of the marginalisation of Ndigbo in the Nigerian state.
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“While youths of the east are agitating for Biafra, the Arewa youths are equally restive; the same goes for Niger Delta youths and youths from Oduduwa states.
“In this popular agitation for Biafra, Ndigbo have not instituted a separatist movement or a terrorist gang as it were. We are more concerned about the continued existence of Nigeria under the present structural arrangement.”
APGA expressed support for restructuring but urged Kanu not to be carried away by the success of the May 30 sit-at-home call, which was attributable to many reasons, including fear.
APGA said the 2014 national conference report should be considered because it largely addressed parameters for the restructuring of the nation.
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It advised the IPOB leader to drop his “emperor” perception of himself “and humble yourself to the true leadership of Ndigbo for a proper and better articulation of the Biafra struggle”.
8 comments
The only thing we know now and forever is biafra and Nnamdi Kanu is the right pilot to our destination! You politicians get behind us b4 Amadioha will visit you
Fly wey no dey hear word na him dey follow dead body enter grave. Nnamdi and him followers no wann hear word. Una go start wetin una no go fit finish.
Nobody calls for war, but people out of mischief are calling for war. By time this rain these mischief makers are calling will start falling, it will certainly beat both the sheeps and shephards. The drums of war are easy to beat, but their rhythms are difficult to dance. No one is immunized of bombs and bullet. Biafran youths are only asking for a YES or NO vote known as Referendum. Civil disobedience is also justified under international law and practice. No referendum No nigeria election in Biafra land.
Oh nobody calls for war? Did you listen to your Kanu on Sahara tv where he was literally declaring war? You people glibly talk of UN as if it is a bolekaja organization. If Kanu approaches UN the way he talks today, he may earn a trial for himself in the Hague than the referendum he serks.
Our leaders should open there eyes because governor Ambode have said it that the Igbo’s in Lagos should go.
Oga,
When did Ambode said that? Lagos has been the most tolerable states in Nigeria by far. Igbo’s are commissioners and Permanent secretaries. They hold very positions in Lagos government.
These unguarded comments of the people will lead us nowhere. Be cautioned.
It is very embarrassing to me as a bona-fide IGBO MAN that it has taken this long for a responsible organ of a responsible political party from the South East to tell this boy Nnamdi Kanu where to go and jump. I am also surprised and disappointed that the National Publicity Secretary of APGA Ifeatu Obiokoye did not go further enough other than telling this guy that his call for election boycott is “irresponsible and devoid of intellectual focus”. That call is more gutter- garbage than that. It would be uplifting for someone to tell this Nnamdi Kanu that he is NOT Lt. Col. ODUMEGWU OJUKWU. And not in any shred of imagination a spokes-person for the Igbo nation. We know what led to the civil war. It was not because the Ibos were not the occupants of the Presidency.
I am not sure Nnamdi Kanu understands exactly what he is propositioning. I think he is now stepping beyond the bounds of responsible and informed debate on the restructuring of the Nigerian Federalism. It is high time this brat was told that he cannot drag the Igbo Nation to a thoughtless gambit of political immaturity. He and his gullible followers have now made their positions known. They have also made the noise; plenty of it. It is now time to walk the walk and lay out strategies for attaining that goal. One of those strategies will not include a stupid and most senseless call for election boycott unless Referendum date is fixed. From what planet is Nnamdi Kanu operating from? Does he not understand that Nigeria has got lawmakers operating from Abuja? Does he not understand the all segment of the government would at a point be involved in the discussion that would alter the structure of the Federal Republic of Nigeria? Does this over-bloated man understand what component polities that make up southeast geo-political zone and that Abia state where he is operating from is just a state in the Southeast? I cannot remember when the Igbo Nation decided to make him our spokes-person, one to tell us when to go to the polls and when not to, one to tell us what religion to practice, Christianity or Judaism? Perhaps all these twaddle is a glimpse of what his dreamed republic of Biafra is going to look like – authoritarian, lawless and a failed state before inception and at birth?
Take a read from one this man’s many ranting: “Nigerian government should build as many prisons as possible to jail all Biafrans because there is no going back and we are ready to go there (prisons) unless the federal government gives us Biafra” . This is the sort hallucinating garbage that can come from a disorganized bigot whose has set out on a journey without a definable destination, not even a route to such destination. How does he and his followers want the Nigeria to give them Biafra when that has not even been discussed in National Assembly?
If Nnamdi Kanu is serious about championing the cause of a re-born Biafra, he should as a matter of urgency either register a political party with BIAFRA REFERENDUM as the centre-piece of the Manifesto or rally round and support a candidate that will pursue the goal of an Independent Biafra. Instead of demanding that in a free democracy we should boycott a legally organised election, he should be responsible enough to tell his followers to vote a candidate who would best represent the aspiration of an Independent Biafra. To do other will not only be reckless and childish, but certainly a short-cut to take him back to prison. I am not going to go with him.
By the time we realize what harm this individual called Kanu is doing to Nigeria and Ndigbo in particular, it would be too late. This guy has violated his bail condition, and the justice system should put him back in jail. He is feeding on the ignorance of the people to propagate his selfish motives. Yes, we have problems in Nigeria. corruption is the biggy. We have more problems in igboland which is diffused in the bigger entity called Nigeria, All we need is to hold our leaders responsible and stop this hatred and blame games. Igbos have intellectuals who will not buy into the egotism of this renowned 419er called Nnamdi Kanu whose aspiration make money off people without working for it, gain cheap popularity, with hope of becoming the “KING” of Biafra someday. If not for anything, this has shown how ignorant many of my people are.