Ahead of the burial ceremony of the Nnamdi Kanu’s parents in Abia State, his lawyer, Ifeanyi Ejiofor, has called on the Nigerian Army, the Inspector General of Police and other security agencies to withdraw their men from the community to allow for a peaceful burial ceremony.
The embattled lawyer who spoke to journalists in Abuja on Monday, further appealed to the Abia State police commissioner, Mr. Ene Okon, to ask his men to stay away from the ceremony.
The parents of the leader of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Eze Israel Okwu Kanu and Ugoeze Sally Kanu, died in 2019 and will be buried on February 14, 2020.
The appeal by Kanu’s lawyer is coming on the heels of an alleged warning issued to members of IPOB by the Abia State police command to steer clear of the burial ceremony.
It is also against the heavy presence of armed army personnel in the community.
Mr. Okon said the police would not allow IPOB to participate in the burial.
He added that if members of the proscribed organisation were seen anywhere around the burial venue, the police would scatter the burial.
IPOB had earlier asked the Nigerian Army and other security agencies to better face the real security challenges confronting the country, rather than stopping them from burying Eze Israel Okwu Kanu and his wife.
The pro-Biafran said its members were not coming for war but to pay their last respects to the parents of their leader.
But the CP said he had reached out to the traditional prime minister of Afaraukwu, Kanu’s hometown, to make it clear that the burial would not hold if IPOB members attended.
The Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB), says Ndigbo will give the parents of Nnamdi Kanu a befitting traditional burial on Friday
The leader of Indigenous People of Biafra, Nnamdi Kanu’s parents, Eze Israel and Lolo Ugoeze Sally Kanu, who died some months ago are billed for burial this weekend, February 14th, in Afaraukwu Community, Umuahia, Abia State.
But the leadership of MASSOB, Monday, declared the burial was not for IPOB or Biafra, but that of Igbo in general.
In a statement issued by the leader of MASSOB, Uchenna Madu, Monday in Awka, Anambra state and made available to reporters, warned the Abia state Command to stop creating unnecessary tension in the state
According to MASSOB leader, Abia state Police Commissioner, Ene Okon, was quoted as saying that Police and other security outfits in the state would disrupt the burial of the monarch and his wife if members of IPOB attended.
In his reaction Monday, Madu described the alleged police statement as a way of heightening already charged atmosphere, adding that the burial was giving Kanu’s parents their traditional right and not IPOB or Biafra event
According to Madu, “MASSOB condemns the statement of the commissioner of police that the police and other security agents will scatter and disrupt the burial of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu’s parents if members of IPOB attend.
“His threatening statement is uncalled for and borne out of cowardice and hunger to satisfy the interest of his paymasters that employed him”
“MASSOB wishes to remind Mr. Okon (Abia state CP) that no amount of his loyalty and self-stabbing sacrifices to his paymasters will ever earn him goodwill from Abuja”
“The Abia state police boss statement is deceiving and full of inconsequential morale-boosting of his personnel and other security agents in Abia state.”
“The commissioner of police is being used to create unnecessary security tension in a peaceful Abia state”
“The people of Afaraukwu community are peace-loving. We have made it clear that the burial of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu’s parents is not an IPOB or Biafra event”
“There will be no display or flying of Biafra flags or showcasing of any Biafra insignias. Abia state police boss should go and sleep”
“MASSOB wishes to inform the Nigeria security agencies that the burial ceremony of HRM, Eze Israel Kanu, and his wife is not an IPOB or Biafra function”
“It is purely an Igbo traditional burial of Afaraukwu Umuahia for their late Eze and his wife. The security agencies should stop creating unnecessary and artificial tension in Afaraukwu Umuahia”
“Ndigbo have resolved to accord Nnamdi Kanu’s parents a befitting burial as a profound traditional ruler. Their burial ceremony is not Biafra rally or demonstration”
MASSOB, warned that no amount of intimidation and harassment from the Army or Police in the state would stop Ndigbo from according to the traditional ruler and his wife a befitting burial.
The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has boasted that its members will attend the burial of the parents of its leader, Nnamdi Kanu in Isiama Afaraukwu, Umuahia, Abia State capital, adding that there’s nothing Ene Okon, the Commissioner of Police in the State can do.
Source: OrientalTimes