Members of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) in Israel are protesting at the Israeli seat of power (Knesset) in Jerusalem over the detention of their leader, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu by the Department of State Services (DSS) in Nigeria.
The protest commenced from All Saints Anglican Church, Tel Aviv with videos shared by IPOB Rapture media on Facebook and YouTube showing members of the group walking peacefully towards the seat of power.
According to SaharaReporters, the protesters were seen armed with both the Biafran and Israeli flags soliciting the support of the Israeli government in achieving the self-determination of the Eastern region.
They were heard chanting, “Free Nnamdi Kanu now!”, “Give us Biafra!”, “No more Nigeria!”, “Israel government, help us speak out” as they carried placards with inscriptions such as “Biafran Referendum now”, “IPOB, ESN is a peaceful movement”.
They also bore placards containing pictures of young children who were victims of the Nigerian-Biafran war which ravaged the country years ago.
Some sections of the protesters were also screaming, “Give us Ambazonia”.
Ambazonia is the name given to the South Eastern region of Cameroon.
A man who was supposedly an Israeli government official was seen approaching the protesters to understand their mission.
One of the protesters explained that they had come to protest against the incarceration of their leader in the Department of State Services’ custody in Nigeria.
He stated that the Nigerian government and its security agents had killed too many Biafrans over nothing while calling for an end to the insecurity in the region.
A female protester further explained that Kanu had simply called for an end to insecurity in the South-East but he was arrested and had been detained since June adding that the government and its officials wanted to kill the IPOB leader.
WITHIN NIGERIA recalls that Kanu was brought to Nigeria from Kenya with the collaborative efforts of the Kenyan authorities and the Nigerian government in controversial circumstances in June 2021.
The IPOB leader is facing allegations of treason levelled against him by President Muhammadu Buhari’s government and has appeared a couple of times before Justice Binta Nyako of the Federal High Court, Abuja.
Kanu’s next court case is slated for January 18, even as his two prominent legal representatives, Ifeanyi Ejiofor and Aloy Ejimakor have protested his continued detention at the facility of the Department of State Services (DSS) which has denied him his fundamental human rights.