The apex socio-cultural youth organisation of Ndigbo worldwide, Ohanaeze Youth Council (OYC), has described as “shocking” the statement by former President Muhammadu Buhari that he did the leader of Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, a favour by not eliminating him while the latter was in hiding after jumping court bail.
Speaking with the press at Abuja on Wednesday, the National President-General of OYC, Igboamaka Igboamaka said the revelation of Buhari’s statement in the memoir of his former spokesman, Femi Adesina, should shock the conscience of not only Nigerians but that of Britain and the international communities.
He said, “For Nigerians with awareness of Buhari’s lackadaisical approach to the insecurity that ravaged the North during his term, the idea that he considered assassinating a self determination agitator like Mazi Nnamdi Kanu says a lot about the disdain and tribalistic mindset he had for Ndigbo and for freedom to hold political opinion.”
Igboayaka stressed that, “For Britain, this very revelation of attempted assassination on Mazi Nnamdi Kanu by former president Mohammadu Buhari is all that it needs to act quickly to protect the life and liberty of her citizen, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu and Indigenous People of Biafra group.
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Buhari and Adesina (L-R)
“It is baffling that in 1984, Britain severely punished Nigeria for attempting to rendition late Alhaji Umaru Dikko but from all indications and empirical evidence it has not demonstrated sufficient interest in protecting Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, a bonafide British citizen. This is a worrisome and suspicious to Igbo Race over British political and diplomatic romance with the undemocratic tyrannical government of Nigeria. Therefore, we call the British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to do the right thing without further ado.”
Ohanaeze Youth also called on people of good conscience and the international community to leverage this “troubling revelation” in demanding the unconditional release of Kanu.
Igboayaka further noted that “nothing less is desirable because a jurisdiction/ government that considers assassination of human rights activists can never be trusted to have the democratic and moral capacity to give such activists a fair trial.”
He added, “It’s crystal clear that eight(8) years of former president Mohammadu Buhari was a calculated assassination project against Ndigbo. Therefore, it is obvious to over 50 million new generation of Igbo extraction in the Globe, that Operation Python Dance launched by former president Mohammadu Buhari and attack of September 2017 at Mazi Nnamdi Kanu country home at Afara Umuahia which took over two hundred (200) lives of Igbo Youth was orchestrated assassination operation designed by Nigeria government.”
In the same vein, Ohanaeze Youth called on President Bola Tinubu to dissociate himself and his administration from this “bloodthirsty against Ndigbo and barbaric mindset of assassination of Self-determination human rights activists by releasing Mazi Nnamdi Kanu from detention