British government is Nigeria’s ‘worst enemy’ says Biafra leader
Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, has accused the British government and its citizens of supporting terrorism in Nigeria, calling the country Nigeria’s ‘worst enemy’.
Speaking on a radio broadcast on Thursday, Mr Kanu, who leads the Biafra people in their struggle for self-determination, claimed that Britain was manipulating Nigerian authorities in favour of islamic separatist movements. He also questioned the fairness of Nigeria’s twelve northern states, which practice Sharia Law, effectively removing themselves from the nation state without government scrutiny.
Biafra was previously an independent nation which separated from Nigeria in 1967. During a two-and-a-half year war with its former mother-state, the country was crippled by starvation imposed by a joint Nigerian and British blockade. It surrendered in January 1970 and rejoined the rest of Nigeria.
Mr Kanu further insinuated in his broadcast that the work of the All Progress Congress (APC), the incumbent political party in Nigeria, was specifically geared towards promoting Islam and the practice of Sharia Law, supported by the British government. He concluded that this was unfair in comparison to the treatment of the Biafran people.
“When the Jihadist in Abuja wanted Sharia law they did not go to the National Assembly or call for referendum to vote to get it, rather the twelve Sharia States went outside the Constitution of Nigeria and agreed and introduced Sharia Law, but today they are asking us why we are agitating for Biafra and telling us to go through the appropriate channel when they did not go through appropriate channel to get Sharia they are practicing today”, he said.
Mr Kanu later identified the British government with the promotion of Islamic groups in Nigeria. He accused Britain of “perpetrating, support and financing terrorism with the people occupying Aso Rock and deceiving Nigerians that they mean well for them”.
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