Father of Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Okwu Kanu, says the recent move by the federal government to rearrest his son was a plan to kill him.
In an interview with The Sun, Okwu said his son had done nothing wrong and that any plans to arrest him will brew more problems for the country.
He said the grounds on which the rearrest of Kanu is being sought are baseless, adding that the bail conditions granted him are a violation of his fundamental human rights.
After spending 18 months in detention, following his arrest by the Department of State Services (DSS), Binta Nyako, justice of a federal high court in Abuja, had granted Kanu bail on April 25.
But the government says he has flouted the bail conditions, prompting the calls for his arrest.
“When they talk of re-arresting him, it means they want to kill him, but God will not allow them because my son has done nothing wrong,” he said.
“I am using this opportunity to call on the United Nations to call the Nigerian government to order because they are planning to kill my son.
“Why will they want to re-arrest him? Did he kill anybody? Did he flout the constitution?
“Some people are saying that my son, flouted the bail condition given him by a Federal High Court in Abuja, but the question remains, what type of bail condition was that? Is it possible that a person of my son’s standing in the society could stay without meeting up to 10 persons in a day or week?
“So, the said bail condition was against his fundamental human rights.
“The court in the first place never restrained him from moving about. So, in the course of going to see one or two of his friends and those people would organise reception for him, I don’t think there is anything wrong with that to warrant his being crucified.
“The question I have been asking since I heard about this planned re-arrest is whether Nnamdi is running away from the country? There is no way he would do that. Any day they want him to appear in court, he will quietly do that.”
Okwu further accused the government of being biased in its reaction to the northern quit notice in relation to Biafra agitations. This, he said, will only add momentum to the clamour for secession.
Okwu also said he could not advice his son to quit the agitation for Biafra.
“I read the other day that the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami said the Federal Government did not arrest sponsors of quit notice to Igbo living in the northern part of the country because of the security implications,” he said.
“From what he said, it was not that the Arewa youths did not commit any offence, but the issue is that the Federal Government is afraid of what will come out of such arrests and allowed them to move freely.
“On the other hand, they are making move to get Nnmadi Kanu, who had done nothing re-arrested because they believe nothing would happen if they do that, but they may be making the greatest mistake.
“It is this treating people from a certain part of the country as being superior to others that is making the agitation for Biafra to gain momentum on a daily basis.”
