Atiku Cameroonian, Not Nigerian – Nnamdi Kanu

Atiku Cameroonian, Not Nigerian – Nnamdi Kanu

The self-exiled leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has stirred another controversy from his hideout, alleging that Atiku Abubakar, the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is not a citizen of Nigeria but a Cameroonian “indigene”.

“Do you know that Atiku Abubakar is from Cameroon? His area of Adamawa was in Cameroon”, Nnamdi Kanu said in a live broadcast on Radio Biafra which commenced 6 p.m. on Saturday.

Mr Kanu did not provide any evidence for his allegation, just as he provided none when he claimed President Muhammadu Buhari had been replaced with a look-alike from Sudan named Jibril.

The live broadcast, monitored on the ‘Radio Biafra’ Facebook page, comes four months after social media went agog over a video showing Mr Kanu praying in Israel 13 months after he disappeared with whereabouts unknown.

Many IPOB supporters accused the military of killing the IPOB leader. His trial for felony was also stalled due to his absence as his lawyer insisted he was either killed or kidnapped by soldiers who attacked his family house during the military exercise.

Although the video of his first appearance last October showed him in Israel, the Israeli government said Mr Kanu had not entered the country recently and the video could be an old one.

The separatist leader was however said to have made Saturday’s broadcast from his hideout in London.

He blamed Mr Abubakar for Alex Ekwueme’s failure in the 1999 presidential primary of the PDP.

“Some of you do not understand that the person behind the failure of Ekwueme in 1999 during PDP convention was Atiku.”

Mr Ekwueme, a former vice president of Nigeria, lost the presidential ticket of the PDP in 1999 to Olusegun Obasanjo. Mr Obasanjo later picked Mr Abubakar as his running mate and won the election. He governed the country for eight years with Mr Abubakar as his vice.

Mr Kanu also took shots at President Muhammadu Buhari whom he has continued to refer to as “Jibril” over his illegal removal of Nigeria’s chief justice, Walter Onnoghen.

“Nobody is saying you cannot remove the chief justice but there are certain procedures to follow. But someone will sit down in Aso rock and say “I won’t follow the procedure.”

“That was what I’m saying about black people. Look at what they are doing to people, imagine what they would do if they win again.”

The IPOB leader also reiterated his call for a boycott of the February 16 elections, calling on all “Biafrans” to sit at home on election day.

“By voting, all you are doing is perpetuating the misery of our people.

“To vote in the zoo means to endorse 1999 fraudulent constitution. By voting, all you are doing is perpetuating the misery of our people.”

The boycott fall, going by previous similar ones, may be ignored by Igbos. A similar one made during the Anambra governorship election was ignored by voters in the South-eastern state.

Mr Kanu said the boycott can only be called off if the government “agrees to sign the documents given to them.”

“Those pressuring me to call off the election boycott know what to do. Sign that document I gave to you and I will call off the election boycott, you know what the document contains.”

IPOB recently announced February 16 as the date for a referendum to ascertain the number of Nigerians who want a separate Biafra republic through a peaceful and democratic process.

February 16 is the date for Nigeria’s presidential election.