A leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) based in Norway has threatened to commit suicide if that country’s government goes ahead to implement its decision to deport him.

Lotachukwu Favour Okolie, who is currently being detained at the Trandum Detention Centre, claimed that he is due to be “illegally deported” from Norway to Nigeria.

He told IBTimes UK: “I have been here at the deportation centre for more than one year and I already told them that instead of being deported, I will commit suicide here.”

“I am scared of going back to Nigeria because I am a Biafran leader here in Norway and Nigeria. The Nigerian embassy [in Sweden] does not want to give me travel documents. I am tired of the politics, I am not a criminal, I am an activist. I am still suffering every day,” he added.

Okolie claimed he fled Nigeria in 2004 after being allegedly tortured in a prison. A friend close to him, who spoke to IBTimes UK on condition of anonymity, said Okolie was arrested in Nigeria due to his activism and broke out from a prison in Edo State in 2004. In 2013, he was made the leader of IPOB in Norway.

The source went on alleging that after Okolie met with the Norwegian parliament and organised a Biafran conference in Oslo in August 2014, he was contacted by some Nigerians living in Norway who demanded he stopped advocating for a breakaway. “These individuals demanded Okolie should stop campaigning for Biafra restoration because the Nigerian embassy in Stockholm is aware of him escaping Oko prison,” the source continued and added that Okolie was then arrested.

Okolie also claimed some members of the Nigerian embassy in Sweden visited Trandum “several times” and told the Norwegian police that he was an “enemy of Nigeria.”

Okolie also told IBtimes UK that he began the pro-Biafran movement with Nnamdi Kanu, IPOB Leader and Radio Biafra Director, who is standing trial on six counts of treasonable felony charges in Nigeria. The two leaders, however, no longer work together.

However, Okolie specified he does not have any problem with Kanu. “We began this movement together and we will work together,” he said. “Our interest is the restoration of Biafra, and we will not stop until Biafra is restored.”

When contacted by IBTimes UK, a spokesperson for the Trantum centre said: “I will not confirm anything to you, sorry, I am not allowed.”

•Photo shows detained Biafran activist Lotachukwu Favour Okolie.

Update news