15/12/2023
PRESS RELEASE
15/12/2023
DEMANDS FOR A REFERENDUM, NOT *
The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) worldwide disagree with the statement of Ohaneze Ndigbo President, Chief Emmanuel Iwuanyanu who was appealing to the Federal Government of Nigeria led by President Ahmed Bola Tinubu to release Mazi Nnamdi Kanu and grant IPOB members Amnesty. As much as we appreciate his call for the release of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, his request to grant IPOB members amnesty is misguided, baseless, and lacks understanding. What IPOB needs is the release of our leader, Mazi Nnamdi Okwuchukwu KANU, and a UN supervised Biafra Referendum.
We totally disagree with Chief Iwanyanwu on his call of a baseless amnesty because IPOB members are not criminals. We are a self-determination agitation group. We have not waged war against the federal government of Nigeria irrespective of all their provocations. We are not fighting to control our vast resources. We are unarmed freedom fighters for the sovereignty and Independence of the people of Biafra to save our lives. We are not going to allow anyone to cajole, intimidate, or divert IPOB's attention from these basic human rights. We don't need Amnesty. We need freedom! Our requests are simple; release our leader, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, who was illegally abducted in and renditioned to Nigeria, then schedule a referendum date for the people of Biafra to decide their fate either to stay in Nigeria or exit Nigeria.
The release of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu by the Supreme Court is sacrosanct because the competent Appeal Court of jurisdiction in Abuja has discharged and acquitted him and barred the Nigeria Government from his arrest and prosecution in any Nigeria court regarding these issues. As soon as our leader Mazi Nnamdi Kanu is released, the Nigeria government can call IPOB for a round table discussion and negotiation on the Biafra referendum.
Our mission is Biafra freedom via a referendum, not Amnesty. Anybody arranging amnesty for IPOB is wasting his time or possibly wanting to be bribed by the Nigeria government for his or her support in deviating from the court judgments.
Chief Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu should focus his efforts on the release of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu and never suggest a false narrative of Amnesty for IPOB members. The self-determination that IPOB is embarking on is not a crime. It is an ideology backed by both local and international laws.
IPOB members are responsible men and women who are doing well in their various endeavors around the world. For Chief Iwanyanwu to speak about amnesty for IPOB members is an insult to the movement.
Anyone suggesting amnesty is provoking the IPOB family and may not have it easy with us.
Mentioning amnesty to is insulting the sensibility of men and women who have lost their lives for the Biafra struggle for independence. What nonsense amnesty will assuage the pains of permanently wounded IPOB members, those in illegal detentions for years, those in exile, those forcefully disappeared and those who have lost their lives in the hands of the Nigeria Government?
Biafra is what we want and Biafra we must get. If Nigeria fails to give us a referendum for Biafrans to decide their fate in this unholy and unworkable one-Nigeria, no one should blame IPOB for what will happen next.
COMRADE EMMA POWERFUL, MEDIA, AND PUBLICITY SECRETARY FOR .
