The Niger Delta Congress (NDC) has received the news of the arrest of the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) with mixed feelings.
We most importantly take note of the time and resources that have been expended to arrest and extradite Nnamdi Kanu who was miles away from Nigeria; this is while Islamic terror groups are freely attacking military and civilian targets, having large open air meetings, and forming terror pacts against the rest of the country within the boundaries of Nigeria – with even more freedom than so-called free citizens can boast of in sections of this country.
It begs the question of why the people of Southern Nigeria are always the target when important socio-political conversations are brought up, in a bid to muddy the waters of the discourse. We remember vividly similar treatment meted out to Obafemi Awolowo immediately after independence, and to Ken Saro-Wiwa, which eventually led to his extrajudicial murder by the government in 1995.
We would like to reiterate that human beings have basic rights, such as the right to fair hearing, and the right to self determination which even the Niger Delta peoples are currently considering and consulting over.
While the Niger Delta Congress may not agree in totality with the methods or approach of the IPOB, the NDC advises that the Nigerian government should, for its own good, ensure that the judicial processes the leader of the IPOB will be made to pass through are free of the ethnoreligious bigotry that has plagued this government even before it took office in 2015.
The Niger Delta Congress stands with all oppressed groups within and without the Nigerian federation and will be following the situation keenly.
STATEMENT ISSUED BY THE NDC:
Barr Ovunda C. Eni
(Acting Spokesperson)
