Army Must Produce Kanu, Parents, Says Family

Emmanuel Ugwu in Umuahia
The family of the leader of the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra ( IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, on Tuesday  asked the Nigeria Army to account for his whereabouts, since  the September 14 military raid of the family house at Afaraukwu Umuahia.

Speaking on behalf of the royal family of Afaraukwu, Kanu’s younger brother, Prince Emmanuel Kanu, said he strongly believed his brother  fell into the hands of troops during the raid.
“It is either they (soldiers) captured him or killed him when they attacked our house. If they captured him they should release him to the police, and if they killed him they should produce the corpse because he was last seen moments before the raid,” he said.

Aside from his brother,  Emma  also alleged that the whereabouts of the patriarch and the matriarch, Eze Israel Kanu, and Lolo Sally Kanu, have remained unknown since after the attack.
According to him, the family has been searching for the IPOB leader and his parents for two weeks now without making any headway.

However, the army has denied knowing the whereabouts of the IPOB leader and dismissed the insinuation that he was in their custody.
A voice that picked the call put through to the Operation Python Dance line just blurted out that “Kanu is not in army custody.”

But Kanu’s younger brother called on the international community to prevail on the Nigeria Army to produce his parents and the IPOB leader, adding that the family has been in shock since after the invasion.
He denounced the desecration of his father’s palace by the army without any provocation, saying that it was a big dent on the democratic posture of the Nigerian nation.

Traditional rulers of Umuahia North local government had last week called on the army to explain the whereabouts of Eze Kanu and his wife and also denounced the desecration of his palace and the ofo, the symbol of authority of the traditional stool.