Biafran Protesters Storm Asaba, Demand Release of Kanu,  Freedom for Biafra Republic

By Amos Igbebe
Multitude of Biafran youths chanting Biafran solidarity songs, Friday, held Asaba hostage, protesting the arrest of the Director of Radio Biafra, Nnamdi Kanu, and calling for the liberation of Biafra from the shackles of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
The youths who marched through the streets of Asaba and later converged at the intersection between the Summit Road and the expressway connecting Onitsha with Benin, also prevented vehicular movement along the ever busy expressway.
They sang Biafran songs as “We are Biafrans, fighting for our freedom, in the name of Jesus, we shall conquer, No Biafra, no peace”. They also flew Biafran flag of green, black and red with an improvised plane built with the insignia of the Republic of Biafra.
Spokesman of the protesting group, Emeka Ndu, said the protest was at the instance of the arrest of the Director of Radio Biafra, adding that his bail conditions were too high for him to bear.
He said a section of the Biafra people had contributed a portion of the bail money but it was more for them to do, hence the protest to liberate the Biafran states from the shackles of the federal government and the British government.
He listed the states under the proposed Biafran Republic to include all Eastern states, Edo, Delta, Rivers, Bayelsa and Kogi, noting that Igbo is not Biafra but a language spoken by a group of people of the same decent and origin.
He said the Hausas whose only source of income is groundnut and cow and the Yorubas who survive only on cocoa have taken the oil which belongs to the people of Biafra, maintaining that the Hausas have taken their oil from them and thereafter abandoned the oil producing states.
He said “they are using police and soldiers to intimidate us because we don’t have power and people to speak on our behalf. The protest cannot stop today, we are telling the world that we are not happy over the arrest of our Director. They have already kidnapped our Director.
“Our Director went to Abuja as soon as he came down at the airport, they kidnapped him. They demanded N2bn for his release, Biafran people have contributed N1bn, we still have N800m to pay. That made the Biafran people to be annoyed.
“We have gone to more than 10 states in the country. We have gone to all the Biafran lands, Igbo is not Biafra, it is a language of a people. Kogi, Edo, Ebonyi, Rivers, Bayelsa, Delta, Imo, Abia, Enugu, Anambra are Biafran states.  What we want now is for the federal government to release our Director and give us freedom to control ourselves.”
Another protester, Victor Nwobodo, said the protest became necessary to secure the release of Dr. Kanu, noting that “we have suffered enough in the hands of the Nigerian government and we are no more comfortable with it.
“We want our freedom that is why we are here. We are not comfortable with the Nigerian government, the intimidation, killing and all that; that is why we want our freedom. We feel very bad about his detention and it is affecting each and every one of us. We are not comfortable, we want to go.
“The federal government should release our Director, Dr. Nnamdi Kanu and we also want our freedom. As a nation that is due for freedom, we want to go; we are tired; the suffering is too much; it is not a crime to want our freedom; we want to go.”
Chineye Udoechnia said the detention of Kanu has brought bitterness to the people of Biafra, warning that he should be released without further delay.
“We are not Nigerians, we are Biafrans. My father is seventy-two years old and he is older than Nigeria. He is a Biafrian, I am a Biafran and we all here are Biafrans. We the indigenous people of Biafra are ready to go. We want to be on our own.
“The British came and amalgamated us with these Oduduwa and Arewa people, we are not one; we were never one, we are totally different in terms of tradition. We want to be on our own. We want our freedom,” Udeoba said.
Mrs. Judith Ihebiehi told journalists that the detained Kanu was the voice of Biafra, insisting that it was wrong for the Nigerian government to detain him as he did nothing to merit the punishment.
“Have they ever asked themselves if what this man has been saying is false? Have they bothered to verify what Nnamdi Kanu has been saying? So detaining Nnamdi Kanu will bring problems.
“Our reason of coming here is to tell the people of Delta State about the suffering of our people in the hands of the federal government,” she said.
The protesters were, however, denied access into the Government House by security operatives who were on guard. No official of the Delta State government gave them audience.
As soon as the protesters had departed the expressway heading towards Agbor in continuation of the protest, the police arrived and chased away on lookers, some of whom were passengers waiting for buses to travel and roadside petty traders by the Summit Junction.