The father of the detained leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, and the traditional ruler of Afaraukwu autonomous community, His Royal Majesty Eze Israel Kanu has dismissed the report that his son has apologised to President Muhammadu Buhari for calling him a terrorist and a pedophile. Also, Mr. Vincent Obetta, the lawyer to the detained IPOB leader, on Wednesday, said it was impossible that the Radio Biafra director tendered an apology to President Buhari.

The IPOB on the other hand on Wednesday also refuted media reports that its detained leader, and director of its radio had apologised to President Buhari. Kanu’s father described the alleged apology as the handiwork of the enemies of the struggles for Biafran emancipation, saying that his son has never regretted his actions for the liberation of his marginalized people. Eze Kanu said this in Umuahia, the Abia State capital, on Wednesday, adding that his son has no reason to apoligise to anybody as he was fighting a just cause and has not has violated any law.

The monarch added that he was not surprised at such fabrications and reiterated his son’s resolve to not give up the fight for a sovereign state of Biafra particularly as it was the wish of the people. He restated his unwavering support for his son and advised those in authority to stop trying to project him in bad light through the internet even as he warned media houses against collaborating with the Federal Government to portray his son in a bad light and ultimately frustrate the agitation for independent Biafra.

He maintained that such efforts will fail. The traditional ruler used the opportunity to renew his appeal to President Buhari to free his son, insisting that his son has done nothing to warrant his unlawful detention even against the judgments of courts of competent jurisdiction. Meanwhile, Mr. Vincent Obetta, lawyer to the IPOB leader, while denying that Kanu apologised to President Buhari, said reports of the IPOB leader’s apology were proof that government was trying to use all instruments at its disposal to “puncture” the campaign for the actualization of Biafra. “The alleged apology is not true. The government is using every instrument to puncture what we are doing,” he said.

Similarly, the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra [IPOB] has refuted media reports that its detained leader, and director of its radio had apologised to President Buhari for allegedly referring to him as a terrorist. IPOB in a press statement issued in Umuahia, dismissed the media report as a blatant lie and cheap propaganda by its sponsors to create the wrong impression that Kanu is backing out of the Biafran project. The statement which was signed by its spokesman, Emma Powerful, accused the Federal Government of planting the said report to dampen the morals of Kanu’s followers and other Biafran agitators.

The IPOB spokesman said: “It is an insult to the entire Biafran Republic for anyone to expect any apology from Kanu over his activities towards facilitating Biafra’s autonomy”. The group also accused the media outfit which carried the said report of serving as a propaganda machinery of the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC)-led Federal Government to cause disaffection among Biafrans.

Credit: DailyTimes