Nnamdi Kanu’s parents speak to the media in exclusive interview with Okey Sampson, Saturday Sun, Lagos, at parents’ home in Isiama Afara, Biafra (The Sun, Lagos, Saturday 14 November 2015)

Nnamdi’s early life and trait of activism

Nnamdi’s father said the director of Radio Biafra was born in the 70s; he was not specific, at Isiama Afara. He attended Library Avenue Primary School (now part of Government House), Umuahia and went to Government College, Umuahia for his sec­ondary education. After that, he gained admission to the University of Nigeria Nsukka (UNN), where he could not finish due to incessant strikes before he left for London to complete his university education.

(Nnamdi Kanu’s parents: Eze Israel Okwu Kanu and Ugoeze Nnenne Kanu)

Did Nnamdi show any sign of activism when he was growing up?

“Yes”, the royal father answered. “He showed signs of activism when he was grow­ing up. I remember when he was in secondary school at Government College, Umuahia, he was the school prefect and he did well in leading other students. After that, when he gained admission to the University of Nigeria Nsukka (UNN), they will be in school for one month, and in the next three months, they will be at home due to strike. One day, he called me and said because of this thing, he would no longer go to school in Nigeria and when I demanded to know why, he said he was tired of the everyday strike. What he was then doing at UNN when school was in session was to boycott class­es and stayed on his own to study privately. After a time, he told me again that he was wasting his time in Nigeria in his quest to have education and that he was going abroad to study. I weighed the possibility and I felt it was not there. He insisted and came in contact with somebody from my place who said I had helped him sometime ago and that he would help my son to travel to London and he did that. That was how Nnamdi went to London to study”.

Another thing the traditional ruler said made him believe his son could do what he is doing today was that while in school, Nnamdi was very intelligent and his teachers respected him for that and they kept telling him that his son would be somebody in fu­ture.

(Nnamdi Kanu: freedom broadcaster, Radio Biafra)

Nnamdi and Biafra struggle

HRM (Eze) Kanu stated that his son was with Ralph Uwazuruike in the early years of the forma­tion of MASSOB but later left and started the strug­gle his own way and people started following him because of his uprightness, which he said created a lot problems for Nnamdi. According to him, “My son’s problem started with Ralph Uwazuruike, the MASSOB leader. After my son left him, there was a time he (Nnamdi) went for a function at Oboro, Ikwuano, Umuahia, Uwazuruike gathered his men and scattered the whole place. The people of Ob­oro arrested some of the people that came to disrupt the event and took them to the police headquarters in Umuahia. The following morning, I went to see them and admonished them to stop that type of behaviour, that all of them are fighting the same cause of Biafra freedom. That if my son wronged Uwazuruike, they should tell me and I will go and beg him. At the end, I found out that Nnamdi did not do anything but was opposed to the way MASSOB was collecting money from the poor and they go into the pocket of one man”.

Making of Radio Biafra

After the Oboro incident, as Nnamdi was going back to London, he was arrested at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja. “When I was informed about his arrest, I rushed down to Port Harcourt, from there, I went to Abuja. At Abuja, the men at the DSS office treated me with respect and after explaining things to them, they asked me to take Nnamdi home. It was when we came back that my son told me he was going to appear in his true colour, to make sure that Biafra was realised”. To start with, Nnamdi left his job in Britain where he is a citizen, to be fully involved in the struggle and built the Radio Biafra/TV which has taken the country like a storm.

Arrest and detention

When asked how he feels about Nnamdi’s arrest and detention, he has this to say: “Nnamdi is my first son. His arrest pains me a lot; it is not when I start crying like a child before people will know that his arrest is paining me to the marrow. That chap has no problem, he is not a noisemaker, rather he abhors injustice. Since he was born, he had not exchanged words with we, the parents or even the siblings, always sitting quietly when we are having family meetings, but he always made quality inputs”.

Radio Biafra and Nnamdi’s arrest

Nnamdi’s father said he listens to his son’s voice on radio and feels happy because he believes his son always says the truth and does not say such for his selfish interest, but for the interest of the people. He gave thumbs down to the Federal Government for his son’s arrest stating: “It was not justified at all be­cause he is fighting for the freedom of the Igbo with his mouth and without a machete or gun. It is only that mouth Nnamdi is using to demand the freedom of the Igbo and whether the Federal Government likes it or not, he will continue to speak just as I used to do which made me to represent my people three times as a local government councillor. Talking runs in our blood stream and it will be difficult for Nnam­di to stop talking”.

Family support

Nnamdi, despite his present travail, enjoys the full support of his family members in the pro-Biafra agitation. The father notwithstanding the fact that he had visited Nnamdi in Abuja since his present problem which he attributed to ill-health, but he was quick to add that he and Nnamdi’s younger ones were in Abuja to give him words of encourage­ment and seek his release. Driving further home the family’s support for Nnamdi, Eze Kanu has this to say: “Even the younger ones are in support of what he is doing and that is why the immediate younger brother and the mother are in Abuja because of his arrest. This shows that they have interest in what he is doing and we are fighting for his release.

“As for my people of Isiama Afaraukwu, they are not silent over the matter, but the only thing is that during the [Biafra] war, Biafran army headquarters was in our place including the famous (Ojukwu Bunker) which shares boundaries with my palace, in fact, soldiers were living in my house and it could be that what the people saw during the war made them to be a little docile over this matter”.

Appeal to Nigeria and Igbo people

“I will first of all start with the Federal Govern­ment, I’m appealing to them to release my son, he has not come to wage war against the country and the Nigerian constitution made provision for free­dom of speech and nothing will debar him from speaking. President Muhammadu Buhari should understand that the agitation for Biafra did not start with Nnamdi. If Buhari has any bad plans against Nnamdi, he should hands off because all of us want that freedom.

As for Ndiigbo, they should join Nnamdi in seeing to the actualization of Biafra. I’m not always happy that my son is putting his all in the struggle, the other man, Uwazuruike will be some­where behaving as if Nnamdi is his enemy. I’m also not happy that since Nnamdi was arrested, no gov­ernor from this zone or a known politician for that matter has ever asked for his release, it is not good. I don’t know whether they are afraid to speak out”, he stated.

Standing behind his son like the Rock of Gibral­tar, Eze Kanu said if his son was released today, there is no way he would advise him to forget about Biafra, stating that Nnamdi had told him it will be better for him to die than abandon the cause of Bi­afra.

Twitter @HerbertEkweEkwe