![]() ![]() ![]() But to many others like Cheta Nwanze, a political analyst who has done extensive research on the pro-Biafra movement, Kanu is an “opportunist whose arrest was a mistake because it played into his hands.”Īn opportunist because Kanu was seen in a video speaking about the need to protect Nigeria from breaking apart at an anti-Boko Haram rally in London few months before he established IPOB. He compares Nigeria to an animal kingdom and like opium: a vast majority of Biafrans have been intoxicated with some of these provocative messages, leaving them to follow Kanu religiously. ![]() The word “zoo” is the byword Kanu deployed to fuel his evangelism of secession. Those (mostly IPOB members) who see him as a saviour have at a point compared him to Jesus Christ, the saviour God has sent, like Jesus Christ to save the Igbo race from “the zoo called Nigeria”. In total, 35.8% of respondents see Kanu as a freedom fighter, while the second-largest proportion, 21.7% see him as a saviour for all of Southern Nigeria, while 18% of the respondents see him as a noise maker. Biafra is, he said, is his calling,” Unah told YNaija.Ī 2017 survey by SBM intelligence showed what Igbos from South East and South-South think about Nnamdi Kanu. He told us that he loves “Biafra more than I love my wife” It goes without saying that he might not easily back out. Kanu cuts a figure of a determined man whose mission to restore Biafra is as strong as a rock, if that description fits. ![]() Linus Unah, a freelance journalist with the Guardian (UK) and IRIN news was among the select journalist who interviewed Kanu in preparation of the May 30th Biafra Remembrance Day. “He’s a God sent, a saviour sent to deliver men from the bondage of darkness called Nigeria” says Sopuru Amah, a staunch IPOB member. “When Biafra is actualised, Judaism will be widely practiced among Igbo people,” Ben Chikadibia, an IPOB member boasted.īack in Umuahia, his hometown, Kanu is seen as a messiah. When YNaija visited Kanu father’s compound in Umuahia, few IPOB members, were draped in the Jewish Orthodox attire including the Yarmulke also known as Kippah. “This congregation (IPOB) is special to me, and this is the very first observance of Shabbat in this very family (IPOB),” he told the cheering IPOB members. At his father’s compound where he marked the observance of Shabbat, the first of its kind among IPOB family. He does not only wield political power, he has spiritual authority and control over a good number of IPOB members who seemed to have followed his religious belief. The separatist group leader is steeped in the Jewish history, culture and doctrines. Who’s Nnamdi Kanu: A messiah, “opportunist” ? It’s like asking me not to breathe,” Kanu told Al jazeera. I can’t allow large group of people to basically congregate outside to see me. “I can’t go outside to call for a press conference. When asked if he was worried that he will get in trouble with the Nigerian authority for speaking to the press. Since he was released on bail in April, the IPOB leader has turned to a political celebrity hosting IPOB members and dignitaries from every part of the world, including a German Journalist who traveled to Nigeria just to have a chat with him on the Biafran struggle.ĭefying his bail conditions, which include not speaking to the press and addressing crowds of not more than 10 persons, Kanu has not only granted interviews to journalists, he has also addressed legion of IPOB members in his father’s compound. “Ever since he returned the road is always busy,” says a tricycle driver who takes passengers to the palace often. ![]()
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