Detained leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu has sacked his lawers for speaking against the Niger Delta Avengers (NDA) and for misleading the public on negotiations with the Federal Government.

In a statement issued last night, signed by Barrister Emma Nmezu and Dr. Clifford Chukwuemeka Iroanya, Spokespersons for IPOB, the separatist group declared that it had been reliably and incontrovertibly informed that some of the utterances of its defence lawyers were made without consultation.

“These utterances,” IPOB said, “border on negotiations and some were against the Niger Delta Avengers. As a result of these unsolicited and unguarded utterances, the defence team has been sacked and will be replaced. The IPOB leader wishes to state categorically that the only thing we are open to is negotiations that will lead to modalities and processes to restore Biafra and avert further hardships on the people of Nigeria who have been under bondage since his kidnapping and illegal detention.”

According to the group, “The Niger Delta Avengers arose because of the inherent injustice in Nigeria as manifested in the disregard for the rule of law, when President Muhammadu Buhari refused to obey court order, to unconditionally release our leader, Nnamdi Kanu. We spoke the mind of our leader when we stated for record purposes that IPOB and Niger Delta Avengers share the same ideology of freedom for Biafra.

“Anybody publicly dissociating IPOB from Niger Delta Avengers is a mortal enemy of IPOB family worldwide under the leadership of Nnamdi Kanu. Let it be known that as long as Buhari and Daura continue to tamper with Nnamdi Kanu’s defence team through bribery, inducements and intimidation, IPOB will keep on changing the team.

“For the records, the press conference by the now-sacked legal team was about bringing to public knowledge the foolishness of the Department of State Services (DSS) in bringing treasonable felony charges against our leader and the lack of evidence thereof. The press conference was never about negotiations because should negotiations start, IPOB will notify the world about it. Right now, we are not negotiating and will not negotiate until existing court orders on the release of Nnamdi Kanu are obeyed.”

IPOB subsequently, announced that Barrister Ifeanyi Ejiofor will in the interim; continue to act as lead counsel until other counsels are appointed.

•Photo shows Nnamdi Kanu.

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