RADIO Biafra director Nnamdi Kanu has apologised for referring to President Muhammadu Buhari as a terrorist and a paedophile at his latest court hearing saying that he intends to write a formal letter of apology and send it to the presidency.
Mr Kanu, 48, who was arrested by security men in October, appeared at the Federal High Court Abuja yesterday where he is facing six counts of treason and other ancillary offences. Charged along with two others, Mr Kanu is accused of treasonable felony, management of an unlawful society and smuggling goods, including radio transmitters, into the country.
Sounding rather sombre in court, Mr Kanu expressed regret for referring to President Buhari as a terrorist, evil and a paedophile in his radio broadcasts. He added that he intended to write a private letter to President Buhari to express his apology.
Furthermore, Mr Kanu also apologised to former President Goodluck Jonathan and Igbo elders for some uncomplimentary things he said about them. However, he remained unapologetic about his demand for a Republic of Biafra and his decision to create the Independent Peoples of Biafra (Ipob) movement which has been agitating for secession.
According to the prosecution, in one of Mr Kanu's radio broadcasts on August 1, 2015, he expressed his resolve to actualise the Republic of Biafra and cast aspersions on the person and the office of the president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Following his arrest by the Department of State Security, Mr Kanu subsequently tendered an apology for the remarks in a statement which he made to investigators on October 23.
Mr Kanu said: “Reference to the president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as a terrorist, evil and a paedophile is regrettable and uncalled for and for that, I unreservedly apologise and will be doing so in a private letter to the president. Before President Buhari, there was the administration of Goodluck Jonathan and I also said uncomplimentary things about him and Igbo elders as well, which I now recognise should not have happened because it is un-African to be rude or insolent to elders."
Describing himself as a Nigerian and a British citizen, Mr Kanu justified his agitation for a Biafra Republic, saying all he was trying to do with his comments was to draw attention to the problems afflicting society. He added that Ipob's secessionist agenda was informed by the incessant hardship, lack of holistic development in the socio-economic landscape of Nigeria, the lack of youth employment, corruption in high offices and economic regression.
According to Mr Kanu, Ipob, which was founded in London in 2012 by a group of people from the south-south and southeast regions of the country, was in line with the United Nations Charter on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, ratified by African countries, including Nigeria. He added that Ipob was registered with the United Nations to pursue the rights of the people of Biafra.
He explained that the intended Biafra Republic comprised Enugu, Ebonyi, Abia, Imo, Anambra, Cross River, Akwa Ibom, Rivers, Bayelsa and Delta states as well the Igbanke part of Edo State. It will also include the Igala part of Kogi State and the Idoma/Igede part of Edo State.
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