The family of the detained leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, Nnamdi Kanu, has called on the international community to intervene and compel Nigeria to promptly and unconditionally release Kanu and refrain from further persecution of the proscribed group.

In a statement signed by the head of the family, Mazi Kanunta Kanu on behalf of the Kanu Family, titled “Re: Northern coalition faults UN call for the release of Nnamdi Kanu, by Coalition of Northern Groups (CNG)’, the family said: “We see this press statement as a meaningless diatribe that comports with the self-deception and self-delusion that has guided the so-called CNG since the present era”.

Having considered the letters, spirit, and intent of the press statement, the Kanu family said the statement by the CNG underscores “the general disdain and arrogance with which a section of the North (not all North) always treats anything Southern Nigerian, especially concerning Biafraland or Ndigbo.

“It is this same bad attitude that had informed most of the grievous errors of judgment that have altogether manifested in the crushing insecurity that has ravaged the North since 2015 when these shadowy Northerners began to infiltrate and infest the corridors of the Federal Government of Nigeria.

“The first impression that emanates from their press release is that a plethora of Northern groups in all North has come out with a consensus against the United Nations directive to release Nnamdi Kanu. We know this to be false.

“What we know as the truth is that it is the same cabal that has always subjugated Northern Nigeria and troubled Nigeria as a whole that would have the silliness to come out with such disrespect for the United Nations, thinking of course, that the United Nations is like the rest of Nigeria that has become their punching bag.

“We also know that the indigenous peoples of the North (the true North) disapproves of this hypocrisy emanating from this shadowy and dodgy North the CNG claims to represent.

“We are sure that those indigenous peoples are as shocked as everybody at this foolish call on a tottering Nigeria to ignore the United Nations.

“We also know that the shadowy North that loves injustice and romance terrorism is unraveling. It is unraveling by its own hands. It is having a meltdown that comes with their sense that the day of reckoning is nigh.

“It is reeling from its self-inflicted insecurity that has unleashed an unprecedented regime of terror merchants that spans from the Sahel to middle Nigeria.

“It is the same shadowy North that a recent BBC documentary (captioned Terror Merchants of Zamfara) exposed, all to its chagrin. It is the same shadowy North that gives comfort to terrorists but would want the Federal government to disrespect the directives of a world body, the United Nations, of which Nigeria is a member.

“Any North that will never see anything wrong with the widespread terror in the North and not reckon with the true meaning of the Kuje jailbreak but will rather be bordered with Mazi Nnamdi Kanu (an unarmed prisoner of conscience), is not the true North. It is the false North.

“The only reason they still have an audience and have the swag to speak is that the true North allows it. But for how much longer?

“For the avoidance of doubt, this shadowy, false North that is calling on the Federal government to go rogue on the United Nations should know that such action will be suicidal, if not now, then later. If they doubt, they should go ask Sani Abacha how he reduced Nigeria to a pariah State through similar acts of State lawlessness that the CNG is now demanding.

“They should ask their lawyers (if they have any) about the tenor, reach, and inviolability of Opinions, Directives, or Decisions issued from the United Nations.

“If they do not have lawyers among them, they can check directly with the United Nations or even visit its website. There, they will discover that this very Opinion on the release of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu (like similar ones before it) is binding on Nigeria.

“It is as binding as any other United Nations adjudicatory Opinion that led to the end of Apartheid in South Africa, a referendum in Ethiopia/Eritrea, a referendum in Kosovo and South Sudan. The deployment of United Nations peace-keeping forces across the globe was also guided by opinions like this”. (Vanguard)

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