Nnamdi KanuA 47-year old Nigerian gangster, who preaches hate against the Yoruba and the Hausa tribes, and who promises to bomb Nigeria unless his tribesmen are ‘liberated’ and are allowed to form an independent country where peace and justice will reign, is drawing crowds and praises in Igboland.
Mr. Nwannekaenyi “Nnamdi” Kenny Okwu Kanu, simply known as Nnamdi Kanu, is the founder of the separatist organization known as the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and the director of London-based, hated-filled radio station, known as Radio Biafra.
Mr. Kanu was arrested on treason charges in October, 2015, while he was relaxing at the Golden Tulip Essential Hotel in Ikeja area of Lagos, by the Nigerian secret police, and was detained in a Nigerian jail for more than a year-and-a-half before he was released on bail on 28 April 2017.
He had said in court that he “believes in Judaism” and considers himself a Jew who was born to free his people, the Igbo tribe in eastern Nigeria. It’s Biafra or death, he had declared to the consternation of other parts of the country but to the adulation of his fans and many of his tribesmen.
Since he was released on bail, Mr. Kanu has drawn crowds, especially jobless young Igbo and many sympathizers who argue that Nigeria has not been fair to the Igbo since the end of the civil war in 1970 which left about a million Igbo dead and many others malnourished as well as a region ravaged by poverty and high level crimes.
That war, between 1967 and 1970, broke out after what was considered as an Igbo coup took place, followed by a counter coup from the north, and the killing of about 30, 000 Igbo in the northern part of the country.
The war last about three years and only came to an end when a Yoruba politician known as Obafemi Awolowo advised that food supply into Igboland be stopped. Not long after, famine left hundreds of thousands of Igbo dead and the war came to an end.
Images of malnourished children during the Biafra war shocked the world, and increased pressure for the end of the war.
In conversations with some Igbo, it was the impression of this newspaper, that a sizable number of Igbo believe that they have not been treated well since the end of the war.
But to many Nigerians from other tribes, Igbo are treated as fairly as others, and suffer from the same lack, chaos, and mismanagement that many other Nigerians are experiencing daily.
Born in Isiama Afara, Abia State to Eze Israel Okwu Kanu (JP) and Ugoeze Nnenne Kanu, the separatist leader attended Library Avenue Primary School (now part of Government House, Umuahia) and went to Government College Umuahia for his secondary education.
He later gained admission to the University of Nigeria Nsukka (UNN) but did not graduate. Finally, he relocated to London and studied Political Economics at London Metropolitan University.
On October 18, 2015, was in Lagos State by Nigeria’s secret police the Department of State Services (DSS).
Mr Kanu had told his solicitors that he was, on 14th October, 2015, arrested by the agents of the Federal Government of Nigeria, the State Security Service (SSS) in his hotel room i.e. Golden Tulip Essential Hotel Ikeja, Lagos State.
But Kanu does not seem to have the support of many of educated and exposed tribesmen who have lived in various parts of Nigeria are doing well.
Many argue that an Igboland where justice and peace will reign is a fiction as some Igbo often consider themselves superior to other Igbo.