Nnamdi Kanu says if he arrested so too should Arewa leaders Ango Abdullahi and Tanko Yakassai

NDIGENOUS People of Biafra (Ipob) leader Mazi Nnamdi Kanu has responded to calls for his arrest but stating that if he is picked up by security forces northern spokesmen like Professor Ango Abdullahi and Tanko Yakassai should be arrested too.

Over recent months, the political atmosphere in Nigeria has become tense as Ipob has stepped up its campaign to recreate the defunct republic of Biafra that existed briefly between July 1967 and January 1970.  In response a coalition of youth groups across northern Nigeria called on all Igbos living in the region to leave by October 1.

Amid this heated atmosphere, several northern leaders like Professor Abdullahi of the Northern Elders Forum and Alhaji Yakassia of the Arewa Consultative Forum have called for Mazi Kanu to be arrested. In response, the Ipob leader has said that if he is picked up, so too should they as they have been making inflammatory statements, inciting people to ethnic hatred.

Responding to his critics, Mazi Kanu was reacting to yesterday's protest by some northern youths, who called for his re-arrest for breaching his bail conditions. He vowed that nobody had the power to restrict his movement in any part of the country, adding that he was free to go to any part of Nigeria, including Lagos, if he so wished.

Mazi Kanu said: “Why will I be re-arrested and nobody is going to arrest Tanko Yakassai or Ango Abdullahi because of what they have been saying? Is it because they are Fulani? Do they own Nigeria? Are they immune to arrest? Is arrest only meant for Biafrans and not for Fulani?

“Who will arrest Lawal Daura of the Department for State Security for flouting court orders to release Bright Chimezie Isinwa of Ipob? The Fulani's say whatever they like and go free and nobody holds them accountable because they own Nigeria."

He added that he will go anywhere he wants to go and will not listen to threats. According to Mazi Kanu, the actions of his critics motivate him rather than dampen his spirits and make him do what people say he cannot do.