By PAMELA EBOH, Awka

The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has slammed President Bola Tinubu’s aide, Sunday Dare, for his recent newspaper publication titled, “Kanu’s Conviction Different From Igboho’s Activism”.

It described the publication as a desperate attempt to whitewash an obvious ethnic bias and judicial persecution of its leader, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu.

IPOB reacted via a statement made available to journalists on Wednesday by its Media and Publicity Secretary, Emma Powerful.

According to the group, the publication is not only laughable but exposes the depth of Yoruba-led ethnic desperation to justify an unjust conviction.

The statement partly reads: “The supreme leadership of Onyendu Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, has been drawn to yet another piece of intellectual garbage published by various newspapers, titled “Kanu’s terrorism conviction different from Igboho’s activism — Tinubu’s aide.

“We agree with the Tinubu aide on one point only: Mazi Nnamdi Kanu and Sunday Igboho are NOT in the same league. One is a towering liberator fighting for the restoration of the sovereign state of Biafra; the other is an ordinary self-determination agitator whose activities never posed any existential threat to the Nigerian state.

“The comparison itself is an insult to the intellect of every reasonable person. Mazi Nnamdi Kanu is not “ordinary Sunday Igboho.” He is in the league of global freedom icons who were once labelled criminals and terrorists by oppressive regimes.

“Let us remind the author and the Tinubu aide of history, since selective amnesia seems to be their stock in trade.

“Chief Obafemi Awolowo, undisputed Yoruba leader and hero, was convicted in 1963 of treasonable felony – a far graver charge than what they pinned on Mazi Nnamdi Kanu. He was sentenced to ten years imprisonment with hard labour. Yet today, Yoruba people proudly call him their leader, name streets after him, and build statues in his honour. No one calls him a “terrorist” today. Why the double standard when it comes to an Igbo freedom fighter?

“Nelson Mandela was convicted and imprisoned for 27 years as a “terrorist” by the apartheid regime for fighting white minority oppression. Today he is a global icon.

“Mahatma Gandhi was convicted for sedition multiple times by the British.

Martin Luther King Jr was jailed nearly 30 times for his civil rights struggle.

Malcolm X served prison time before rising as a voice of black liberation.

Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe faced sedition charges.

Kwame Nkrumah was imprisoned by the British colonialists. Even Julius Nyerere faced libel charges that could have sent him to prison.”

While noting that Kanu stands in the same esteemed company of freedom fighters who were criminalised by the very systems they sought to dismantle. IPOB stressed that history always vindicate such men.

It said that Tinubu's aide aught ti be ashamed for attempting to rewrite the universal truth.

The statement added: “Conviction of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu was a predetermined Yoruba affair from start to finish: a Yoruba judge (James Omotosho from Abeokuta), Yoruba prosecutors, a Yoruba Attorney-General of the Federation, all acting under the directive of a Yoruba-led executive government. What other outcome could anyone expect? A fair trial? In that ethnic cabal? Impossible.

“While they celebrate this kangaroo conviction, let the Yoruba nation face reality: it is the timely formation of the Eastern Security Network (ESN) by Mazi Nnamdi Kanu that has kept Fulani killer herdsmen and terrorists from turning the East into the killing field that Yorubaland has become.

“The same insecurity they downplayed and ignored when Mazi Nnamdi Kanu warned the nation years ago has now reached even the village of their own Justice James Omotosho. The chickens have come home to roost. Perhaps now they will understand why Kanu’s warnings could not be ignored.

“Kanu is not a product of the colonial system that sees Biafra as a threat to Nigeria’s oil-dependent economy. He is a special breed – a man of destiny whose name will echo through generations long after Tinubu and his aides are forgotten.

“The author of that junk article and the Tinubu aide should concern themselves with the real issues facing Yorubaland instead of manufacturing differences to cover ethnic persecution.”