NATIONAL: Nigeria’s oneness a sham, secession of Biafra must happen — Kanu

THE  leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, Nnamdi Kanu, on Thursday, said the vaunted oneness of Nigeria is a mere charade being promoted by the “lies and deceit” of the ruling class.

Kanu stated this while speaking at the ‘2nd Never Again Conference: 51 Years After Nigerian-Biafran Civil War’ organised by an Igbo think-tank, Nzuko Umunna.

The IPOB leader, who said Nigeria as presently constituted has failed, maintained that only the secession of Biafra would bring hope and succour to the marginalised people of the Southeast.

Kanu said the 1966 war was not an Igbo war but a revolution by conscious members of the society.

He added that the amalgamation of the Northern and Southern protectorates is a marriage of convenience which has outlived his usefulness.

Stressing that no spontaneous or dramatic change can happen in the North because of its conservative nature, Kanu added that genuine revolution could only come from the South.

He blamed the structural problems of the country on the founding fathers of Nigeria, who according to him, failed to interrogate the amalgamation of the Southern and Northern protectorates.

To the IPOB leader, there cannot be oneness in Nigeria when cattle-herders slaughter people all over the country, yet the federal government has not designated Miyetti Allah a terror group.

“We are in a country where the Fulani massacre people on a daily basis. They were called terrorists and later insurgents and now they are called bandits. But these are Fulani herders killing people. Nobody has ever designated Miyetti Allah as a terrorist group,” stated Kanu.

He continued, “We live in these lies and deceit and some people have the guts to say, ‘One Nigeria’. Nigeria that came into existence only 60 years ago. How about the ethnic nationalities that existed before Britain was formed?

“Nobody has the guts to interrogate the formation called Nigeria. How then do you want the country to move forward? How do you expect healing and reconciliation? How is that possible? You and I know that that is not going to be possible.”