Orji Uzor Kalu, former governor of Abia state, says
Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the Indigenous People of
Biafra (IPOB), is not in military custody.

Kanu’s lawyer and his younger brother have been
accusing the army of holding the Biafra agitator, an
allegation which the military denied.

In an interview with PUNCH , Kalu said the IPOB leader
fled to Malaysia from where he went to the UK.

Kanu was based in London before the Department of
State Services (DSS) arrested and detained him in
2015.

He is a citizen of Nigeria and Britain.

“Kanu was not taken away by the military. Kanu went
to Malaysia from where he travelled to the United
Kingdom. Nnamdi Kanu is in London right now as we
speak. He was not arrested by anybody,” Kalu said.

“He left the country on his own. One of his relations
has spoken to me and explained everything because I
wanted to see him and talk to him wherever he was
and see how I could meet some federal government
officials on his issue. I also wanted to see ways of
talking to the president about him, and find common
ground but his family told me that he has left the
country, unless they are lying to me.

“I believe, whether he had left the country or not, he is
not with the military because I asked the commander
of the 14 Brigade, Brig.-Gen. A.K Ibrahim, who is a
very fine and good soldier, well-educated and
dedicated, and he told me that they don’t know his
whereabouts and I am sure, the Department of State
Services have the same information. I also visited the
commissioner of police and he said he didn’t know his
whereabouts and that they are also looking for him.”

But the former governor said he did not have any
information on the whereabouts of Kanu’s parents.

Parents of the activists have not been seen in public
since the military invaded their Afarakwu residence in
Umuahia north local government area of Abia state.
The former governor also accused the parents of not
doing enough to control their son.

“I don’t know,” he said in response to the whereabouts
of Kanu’s parents.

“I visited them in December last year and I was not
impressed with the discussion I had with the father
and the mother because I expected them to have
acted better. Since then, I have not visited them. I feel
that they have not impressed me because they
ignored my advice to them to talk to their son on the
need to stay at home and avoid public outings.

“I said his people can continue to carry their flags
around but that they should not disturb anybody
again. They have a right to express themselves but
that such rights should be within the limits of our
constitution. They have the right to carry Biafran flags
but they should do so within the limits of the
constitution.

“Once your activities are within the limits of the law,
you are in order. You cannot carry Biafra flags and be
stopping vehicles and smashing their windscreens.

You cannot carry Biafra (flags) and be raping young
girls, you also cannot carry Biafra (flags) and be
assembling young men every day. These are people
who have no job and after doing that, they will go and
engage in kidnapping or they will go and do armed
robbery while some will go and do other things to
make money. Hunger is a very terrible thing. The
traders in the market have warned them to stop the
nonsense they are doing. Why should you be extorting
money from people in the name of Biafra agitation?
They are extorting money from people in the market
against their will. If the federal and state governments
continue to watch and allow all these things to
continue, there will be chaos in the state. If Kanu had
not proved stubborn but listened to advice and kept to
the rules of the court, we won’t be where we are now.”