I Am A Biafran, I’m Not Afraid To Say It – Former Presidential Aspirant Declares

Chief Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu, a former presidential aspirant, has said that he belongs to Biafra, and that he remains a Biafran as an Igboman, Vanguard reports. Iwuanyanwu’s statement comes on the heels of the recent release of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) leader Nnamdi Kanu from prison.

According to Iwuanyanwu, it was wrong for the government to level treason charges against Kanu, adding that what Kanu has been doing is mere expression of public opinion. The publisher of Daily Champion newspaper said it is no act of offence let alone an act of treason.

Speaking at Amokwe in Udi local government area of Enugu state when he paid condolence visit to the family of late political scientist, Prof. Godwin Odenigwe, Iwuanyanwu said: “I have always said that was no reason detaining Nnamdi Kanu. In the law of this country which I know unless you have arms. Nnamdi Kanu didn’t commit any treason.

Treason is when you take up arms against the government, he didn’t take up any arms, there was no reason whatsoever for detaining him, because everybody have the right to say I want Biafra, everybody have the right to say I want Biafra. For God’s sake, I’ve made it clear to people that Biafra is for the Igbo. Hausas are Arewas, Yorubas are Oduduwas and we are Biafrans.

“There is a problem we have because Biafra fought a war and people are ashamed to say they are Biafrans but I am not afraid to say I am a Biafran. Biafra is part of Nigeria, Arewa is part of Nigeria, Oduduwa is part of Nigeria; all of us are there. “If a person from Odududuwa takes up arms to secede from Nigeria, its treason but if one is just saying by words of mouth, it just an ordinary expression of public opinion. There is no law that makes such a person get convicted by just saying we want to secede, it’s a right of expression.”

He added: “But if somebody from Oduduwa is amassing arms to topple the government to secede, its treason. If somebody from Arewa is amassing arms to topple the government, its treason, if somebody from Biafra, because all of us are from Biafra I am from Biafra, to topple government, its treason. “But if I come and say I want Biafra, it’s no offence. To the best of my knowledge Kanu didn’t have any violent means; all he said was that he wanted Biafra. He shouldn’t have been detained in the first place, I said it long ago.

I said the government is making him a hero but people misquoted me and said I said government should jail him. “No, I said that getting an innocent person, putting him in prison, they are making him a hero. So what Nnamdi Kanu is now is a hero because of all these.

So he has not committed any offence and shouldn’t have been in detention in the first place. “But there are also some parts of Igbo, who since after the war, they don’t want to talk about Biafra. You cannot wish away Biafra, Biafra is there just like you can’t wish away Oduduwa or Arewa.”

Iwuanyanwu reiterated this position in Ibadan after he chaired the first session of the 22nd synod of the Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion), Ibadan Diocese, at the Cathedral of St. James the Great, Oke-Bola on Friday, April 21. He said that politics was a game of number that the Igbos were at a disservice due to the current form of government.

However, Senators Ekweremadu and Abaribe played a major role in perfecting Kanu’s bail conditions.