Biafra : 7 Misconceptions Some Nigerians Have About Nnamdi Kanu

1. That Nnamdi Kanu has no right to agitate for Biafra: Under article 1 of the UN charter and article 20(1) of the African charter on people and human rights, any group of people can agitate for self determination. Nigeria is a signatory to both laws

2. That Kanu is leading a secessionist organization:- This cannot possibly be true since secession is the unilateral enforcement of independence from an existing country by a group of people. Kanu has not declared or enforced the independence of Biafra from Nigeria, so therefore, neither he nor IPOB are secessionists. Kanu actually wants a referendum rather than secession.

3. That Kanu solicited arms to fight Nigeria:- Again, this not true. The video of Kanu soliciting for arms at the 2015 world Igbo congress in America is still on youtube. At no time did Kanu say anything about using the guns to fight Nigeria in that video. Soliciting guns is not a crime in Nigeria, infact, the firearms act of Nigeria allows Nigerian adults to hold certain types of guns, such as pump action rifles, under license. What is a crime is to hold guns without license or to use guns to commit crime.

4. That Kanu committed a crime by saying that election won’t hold in Anamabra:- There is no crime called the the “offence of saying that election won’t hold”. Anyone is free to say what they like. What is a crime is trying to disrupt election. Besides, Kanu never said anything about disrupting elections. What he talked about was election boycott which is legal

5. That Kanu wants war:- Kanu has said it many times that he wants a referendum conducted in what used to be the Eastern Region, in addition to present day Delta state, to determin those who want independence and and those want to carry on with Nigeria. Referendum does not mean war.

6. That Kanu is a coward that ran away:- While nobody knows for sure what happend to Kanu after the military invasion of his home, it would be wrong to assume that if he escaped, this was cowardice. What kind of person will hand themselves over to their enemy on a platter of gold to be saughtered? Only a very stupid person would do that. In a situation where you have been overwhelmed by your enemies, the smart thing to do is to tactically withdraw and return at an opprtune time to continue the struggle.

7. That Kanu and IPOB are terrorists:- The terrorism act of Nigeria has such a broad definition of what a terrorist is that everyone in Nigeria is guilty of it. Just raising your voice to someone in anger is terrorism since it can be construed to mean intimidation. So why is it that the Nigerian government says IPOB is a terrorist group but America says they are not? This is because IPOB does not fit the international definition of a terrorist organisation. All terrorist organisations have one thing in common, they all have a history of using violence to achieve their aim, and violence must be an action, not spoken words alone. So the question is, has IPOB used violence to try to achieve Biafra? On the contrary. Besides the fallout from clashes with the authorities, IPOB has history of engaging in violence and therefore cannot be a terrorist group.