Ohanaeze youths warn police to stay away from Kanu's parents’ burial

Ahead of the burial ceremony of Nnamdi Kanu’s parents in Abia state, the Ohanaeze Youth Council has warned the state Police Commissioner, Mr Ene Okon to ask his men to stay away from the ceremony.

Eze Israel Okwu Kanu and Ugoeze Sally Kanu, parents of the leader of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) died in 2019, and will be buried on February 14, 2020.

Speaking ahead of the burial, the President of OYC, Igboayaka O. Igboayaka said the Commissioner of Police in Abia State had in an interview with an undisclosed newspaper vowed to disrupt the burial of Kanu’s parents if the followers of the IPOB leader show up at the ceremony in Afaraukwu, Kanu’s hometown.

Ohanaeze Youths members have warned police to stay off the buarial of Nnamdi Kanu's parents on February 14, 2020. (Ripples) Pulse Nigeria

The council president also warned that any move by the police to disrupt the event would be resisted by his group.

In a statement signed by his Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Igboayaka said, “In an interview he (Abia CP) granted a national daily, Sun Newspapers, he vowed to disrupt and scatter the venue of the burial ceremony if Kanu’s followers dare venture into Umuahia or anywhere around the Afaraukwu community.

“Okon added that the police under him would launch Elephant Dance should IPOB members refuse to heed to his dictates. We in OYC see this tough talk and boastful outburst from the police boss in Abia as reopening the wounds of the Nigeria-Biafra war, which was declared “no victor, no vanquished” by the then Nigerian military government.

“Okon’s deadly outburst at this point, if not dragging Nigeria back to the repeat of the 1966 crisis, is capable of causing chaos and anarchy in the country. As worrisome and shameful as this could be at this hour, we are compelled to advise Mr Okon that no reasonable security agency launches or deploys a crime fighting system where there is no crime.

“Any move to disrupt the burial or launch ‘Operation Elephant Dance’ by the Nigeria Police Force would be solely viewed as an act of conventional war against Ndigbo, and we must resist it with anything within our reach.”

Igboayaka, therefore, called on President Muhammadu Buhari to withdraw military troops and police personnel around Afaraukwu community, to allow Kanu and his family bury their parents.