The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has denounced a statement credited to the Movement for the Emancipation of Niger Delta (MEND) to the effect that they have reached an agreement with the Federal Government of Nigeria for the release of IPOB leader, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, from detention, on the condition that he will renounce Biafra, describing the statement as shocking.

“For the avoidance of doubt,” IPOB said in a statement issued on Tuesday and signed by its Spokespersons, Barrister Emma Nmezu and Dr. Clifford Chukwuemeka Iroanya, “Mazi Nnamdi Kanu never consented to any agreement nor did he at anytime meet with MEND and their Ahithophel Team (Not Aaron). It is understandable that MEND and their Ahithophel Team are scavenging for relevance from their moribund status but they should not use the sacred name of IPOB or its leader as a means of survival. MEND and their Ahithophel Team can conveniently carry out their ‘Operation Absalom (Not Moses)’ without dragging the name of IPOB and Nnamdi Kanu into that shenanigan.

“On the other hand, IPOB and their leader Mazi Nnamdi Kanu are in full support of any group of dedicated and hardcore freedom fighters such as the Niger Delta Avengers (NDA). We have stated unequivocally and without any fear of contradiction that we are fully in support of the NDA as they embark on freeing themselves from the British criminality called Nigeria, a contraption led by a man that committed treason on December 31, 1983.

“What MEND and its Ahithophel Team must know is that Biafra is a spirit because Nnamdi Kanu, by the grace of God, brought spirituality into the agitation for Biafra independence. The fact that many people claiming to be fighting for the interest of the people have sold out in the past or that the so called elites engaged in the mortgaging of their soul to the devil does not mean the emergence of clean, conscientious and patriotic Biafrans is no longer possible. A lot of people thought the agitation for Biafra was dead before the emergence of Nnamdi Kanu and IPOB. One thing remains certain: things can never be the same after this. We assert that IPOB is not in the business of betrayal and we would die rather than renounce Biafra.

“The restoration of the nation of Biafra is not subject to negotiation. If there should be any form of negotiation at all, it must be centered on asset sharing between Nigeria and Biafra and on the payment of reparations for money stolen from Biafrans by Nigeria through the 1970 twenty pounds deal and other subsequent acts of thievery by Nigeria against Biafrans. We want to make it categorically clear that MEND and their Ahithophel Team are strictly on their own and do not in any way, shape or form represent IPOB or the leader of IPOB, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu. When we say ‘Biafra or Death,’ we meant every syllable of that phrase.

“Again, we reiterate that Nnamdi Kanu is not Ralph Uwazuruike and IPOB is not MASSOB. Therefore, anybody thinking that our leader will renounce Biafra is certifiably mad. For both IPOB and their leader, Nnamdi Kanu, it is either we get Biafra or we die getting Biafra. There is no middle ground.

“MEND and their Ahithophel Team in their ‘Operation Absalom’ are hereby warned to desist from deceiving the public with their disinformation and betrayal of the Biafran cause.”

•Photo shows Nnamdi Kanu.