By CHARLES IWUOHA

The family of the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, has rejected claims by the Nigerian Military concerning the insecurity in the South-East.

A statement issued on behalf of the Okwu-Kanu family by Prince Emmanuel Kanu faulted Major General Michael Onoja for blaming the insecurity in the zone on Nnamdi Kanu and the IPOB.

Onoja had at a press briefing noted that the security situation in the South-East has improved since Kanu's imprisonment.

Rejecting Onoja's claims, Kanu's family distanced the IPOB leader from the insecurity that plagued the South-East, noting that even while in detention, Nnamdi Kanu made moves to resolve the insecurity in the region.

The family insisted that, rather than Kanu and the IPOB, the military and other state security agencies were actually behind the violence and bloodshed in the South-East.

The statement said, "The Nigerian military cannot whitewash history. Their hands are too soaked in blood. Major General Michael Onoja’s recent claim that “security has improved” in the South-East because of the imprisonment of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu is not merely false. It is a cynical rewriting of history and an insult to every life destroyed by state violence in Nigeria.

"Does it mean Onoja doesn't know that it was Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, through handwritten note and repeated statements in court calling for calm that calmed the fears?

"The Nigerian military turned peaceful unarmed citizens into targets. The records are available.

"Nkpor massacre: Peaceful mourners and demonstrators were gunned down. Amnesty International documented this.

National High School, Aba: Unarmed young Judaic worshippers at a prayer meeting were rounded up and shot dead. UN Human Rights Special Rapporteuer investigated this.

President Trump Solidarity Rally 2017, Igweocha (Port Harcourt): Another shoot-at-sight bloodbath.

The invasion of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu’s home: 28 people killed, a family shattered, parents traumatised into early graves.

"These are not concocted stories. They are documented atrocities. No amount of British-crafted spin, Abuja propaganda, or military chest-beating can erase the facts - Biafrans were killed long before they demanded self-determination — and they were killed precisely because they demanded dignity," the statement added.

Further rejecting Onoja's assertion that security has been restored in the South-East, the family noted that Gen. Theophilus Danjuma, rtd, had openly accused elements of the Nigerian military of colluding with killers and turning their guns on innocent citizens.

"The same institution that repeatedly opens fire on civilians cannot turn around and present itself as the guardian of peace.

"The international community, especially Canada, among others, understands perfectly well where the violence truly originates — and it is not from peaceful people demanding justice, it is not from Mazi Nnamdi Kanu or IPOB," the statement said.

Restating its demands, the family said: "We insist on unconditional release of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, whose detention violates both domestic and international law. Independent investigations into massacres carried out by the Nigerian military across the federation. An end to the deliberate criminalisation of peaceful political expression in the South-East.

Until Nigeria confronts its own crimes, no military press conference will restore legitimacy."

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