Leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, on Monday, said Igbo cannot be forced to vacate Nigeria even with the actualisation of the agitation for Biafra.
The 47-year-old leader spoke in an interview with journalists in Enugu, where he received awards from a number of pan-Igbo groups, including the Igbo Women Assembly, the Eastern Consultative Assembly and the Igbo Students Union.
Reacting to the quit notice issued to Igbo in the North by a coalition of Arewa youths, Kanu noted that secession from Nigeria did not imply that Igbo must leave the North, or other part of the country as suggested by some elements in the north.
Hear him: “You are aware that Scotland is seeking to leave the United Kingdom? Are you remotely implying that every person from Scotland, who lives in England, should now return to Scotland?
“Britain just left the EU. Are you now implying that every British citizen in the EU should come back to Britain in order to finalise that process of extraction of Britain from the EU?”
The separatist added that he would not take issue with the Arewa youths, who he described as “inconsequential.”
He, nonetheless, warned that Igbo, who resided in the North, were doing so at their own peril.
According to him, Igbo resident in the North are “sacrificial lambs” who could be killed at any moment.
Asked if Igbo in the North should ignore the notice to quit, the IPOB leader stated, “It is up to them. They have been in the North, and they (northerners) have been killing us (Igbo) since 1945.
“If you choose to live in the North, you choose to be a sacrificial lamb because one day, they will kill you. It is a choice they have made and they will have to live with it.”
