The opposition of Arewa Youths Consultative Forum (AYCF), led by Yerima Shettima, to the release of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu from his incarceration is inconsequential.
The Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) stated this while reacting to the anti-Kanu release being championed by Arewa Youths. MASSOB described Shettima as “a selfish religious bigot”.
The leader of MASSOB, Uchenna Madu, in a release, said, “We know him as a die-hard enemy of southern regions’ interest in Nigeria. Yerima Shettima’s assertion against Ndigbo and Biafra in general is an expression of frustration and irrelevance in their grip of political powers in Nigeria.”
Kanu said Shettima is expressing his frustration because “President Bola Ahmed Tinubu can never be cowed with the Arewa mentality of promoting the Fulani expansion in Nigeria.”
According to him, “We are Biafrans. We shall never allow our pathological haters to frustrate or kill our existence in Nigeria. The release of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu is long overdue.”
MASSOB congratulated the South-East Governors’ Forum, led by Sen Hope Uzodinma, and Southeast Lawmakers, led Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe, on their respective moves and approaches towards the release of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu from detention.
“We also appreciate other individuals, groups and lovers of justice and freedom for their calls for the release of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu from detention,” Kanu said.
Kanu described MASSOB as a pro-Biafra agitator, and likened the group to President Tinubu who was once a social activist during the military era.
Madu continued, “MASSOB demands the intervention of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu in the release of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu as he did for Sunday Igboho in Benin Republic prison.
Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, is being held at the custody of the State Security Services in Abuja since 2021 when he was renditioned from Kenya to Nigeria. He is charged with terrorism, and stands trial before a Federal High Court in Abuja.