Biafra: Why IPOB's Nnamdi Kanu Is Not A Fugitive - Principal Sec. (EXCLUSIVE)

Carolyn Uchenna Okorafor, the Principal Secretary to Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has explained that because her principal 'did not flee by his own will', it is wrong to label him a fugitive.

Okorafor stated this in an exclusive interview with AllNews on Tuesday.

According to the legal practitioner, Kanu was forced to depart Nigeria in 2017 and never return because the Nigerian Army attempted to kill him.

"A fugitive is a person who has escaped from a place or a hiding to avoid (being) harassed or prosecution," Okorafor told AllNews.

"So the reason why Mazi Nnamdi would not be considered a fugitive is because he did not run by his own will.

"He is considered a survivor.

"If you don't know the story, he was on a house arrest and waiting for trial.

"The Nigerian Army came to his house (in Abia) and killed 28 people.

"He was in the house that time. This is why he was sitting for trial.

"So what do you expect? Do you expect him to sit there and die? He had to escape - to survive.

"A fugitive would be him waiting for trial and then escaping.

"He had to survive because he had to run away and save his own life.

"So again, the difference, if you consider him a fugitive, would be him waiting for trial, nobody is touching him, and he decides to run.

"He had no choice (but) to run. They were going to kill this man.

"That is why he is not considered a fugitive."

Kanu, 53, holds both Nigerian and British nationality.

The Nigerian separatist leader has been campaigning for an independent state called Biafra in south-eastern Nigeria.

After being arrested by the Department of State Services (DSS) upon arrival in Lagos, Nigeria a few years ago, in 2015, Kanu was charged with "criminal conspiracy, intimidation and membership of an illegal organisation" - charges that could amount to treason.

He was released on bail in 2017 after spending more than 19 months without trial on treason charges. 

He then renewed his campaign for independence, before his house in the south-eastern Abia state was raided by the military.

The man, Nnamdi Kanu

Kanu was a relatively obscure figure until 2009 when he started Radio Biafra, a station that called for an independent state for the Igbo people and is broadcast to Nigeria from London.

Though he grew up in Nigeria's south-east and attended the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Kanu moved to the UK before graduating. 

Soon after setting up the now-banned-IPOB in 2014, he spoke to gatherings of the large Igbo diaspora, calling for Biafran independence.

The Biafran cause

The plan for a Biafra state is not new. 

In 1967, Igbo leaders declared a Biafran state, but after a brutal civil war, which led to the deaths of up to a million people, the secessionist rebellion was defeated. 

Kanu is the latest in a line of ethnic Igbo activists taking up the cause of pushing for an independent state, saying the Igbos have been marginalised by successive Nigerian governments.

READ ALSO: Biafra: IPOB's ESN Confirms Acquisition Of '5 Nigerian Soldiers'

Kanu's trial, at a Federal High Court, Abuja, is alive - albeit in absentia.

He is is facing charges bordering on treasonable felony instituted against him in response to years of campaign for the independent Republic of Biafra through IPOB.