IPOB leader, Nnamdi Kanu has been arrested though he fled to UK
According to the Justice Minister of Nigeria, IPOB leader, Nnamdi Kanu has been arrested though he fled to UK. He has been accused by the federal government for acts of terrorism.
The Nigerian separatist leader, Nnamdi Kanu, whose whereabouts were previously unknown, has been arrested and will face trial, the country’s justice minister disclosed this information on Tuesday, the 29th of June, 2021.
“Nnamdi Kanu has been intercepted… He has been brought back to Nigeria, in order to continue facing trial after disappearing,” Abubakar Malami, who is also attorney general, said in a statement.
In the past, Nnamdi Kanu was arrested in late 2015 after calling for a separate state for Biafra, in southeast Nigeria.
His detention led to mass protests and major clashes with security services.
Nnamdi Kanu who was a former London estate agent disappeared in 2017 after being released on bail, only to reappear in Israel and then in Britain.
According to Kanu, the Igbo people, who are in the majority in southeast Nigeria, are a lost tribe of Israel and it is his mission to lead them to the promised land of Biafra.
The head of the outlawed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) movement was detained again on Sunday, the 27th of June, 2021 , Malami added, without giving further details as regards the location of his arrest.
Malami stated that he will be facing trial for charges that include “terrorism, treasonable felony, managing an unlawful society, publication of defamatory matter, illegal possession of firearms and improper importation of goods, among others.”
Recently, South-eastern Nigeria has seen a major increase in attacks, leading to about 130 police and security officials killed and around 20 police stations attacked this year, according to news.
In addition to that, election offices have also been attacked.
IPOB, which agitates for a separate Igbo state, has denied being any connection with the violence, but rather accused the government of a smear campaign.
The calls for a separate state of Biafra is a very sensitive subject in Nigeria, after a unilateral declaration of independence in 1967 sparked a brutal 30-month civil war.
The civil war led to the death of over one million people, most of them being Igbos.
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