DSS sacked our leader, not us - IPOB

The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has accused the Department of State Services (DSS) of being responsible for the apparent dismissal of its leader, Nnamdi Kanu, by the international media arm of the group, Radio Biafra.

On Sunday, November 12, 2017, the company had resumed broadcast operations and promptly sacked Kanu as the head of the group due to his "personalisation of the Biafran struggle and derailing from the core objectives of IPOB as a grassroots movement."

In a strongly-worded statement signed by IPOB's spokesperson, Emma Powerful, on Tuesday, November 14, he said the development is a ploy by the DSS to further divide the group as it is currently fighting the government's proscription of its activities in court.

He argued that Kanu could not be removed or replaced since he was the one who established the radio station in London.

His statement read, "The DSS and their propaganda arm, the Ministry of Information came up with this laughable concoction about the dismissal of our leader, which they know, even by their own very low standards of news management, is so hilarious that no sane mind will believe it.

"Biafrans and the entire humanity know that Mazi Nnamdi Kanu was abducted by Nigerian soldiers on the 14th September 2017, therefore no amount of fake stories about our leader and our movement planted through government friendly media houses, will dent our resolve to restore Biafra.

"For anyone to believe that faceless hitherto unheard of individuals can wake up one evening and announce the replacement of a man that commands 50 million people with presence in over 100 countries of the world, making him only second to Pope Francis as the personality with the largest cult following on earth, is plain stupid.

"Anybody who peddles or believes such a story needs his or her brain examined. This is another classic DSS engineered subterfuge that fell flat on its face as all on their previous efforts to rubbish the personality of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu did.

"Many more weird and ludicrous stories will emerge in the coming days. The more IPOB applies the pressure, the more bizarre the antics of this shambolic APC Government becomes.

"We have all become accustomed to the crude antics of this shameless Nigerian Government and her security agencies who are so desperate to create confusion and pandemonium within the hierarchy of IPOB.

"That they came up with this ludicrous propaganda of the replacement of the irreplaceable IPOB leader is confirmation of their desperation."

Kanu has not been seen in public since September 14 and failed to show up for his treason trial at the Federal High Court in Abuja on October 17, 2017.

Kanu was arrested by the Department of State Services (DSS) in 2015 and spent two years in custody until he was granted bail on health grounds in April 2017.