Kanu’s wife, who believes her spouse, detained by the Nigerian state security service (DSS), is a prisoner of conscience has granted the interview to the IBTimes UK.
Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and other pro-Biafran groups call for the independence of territories that formed the Biafran Republic, in 1967 and re-annexed to Nigeria in 1970.
Kanu, who is the leader of the movement, was arrested on charges of criminal conspiracy, intimidation and belonging to an unlawful society. Biafra leader pleaded not guilty.
Uchechi Okwu-Kanu said: “It is the British who laid the foundation of Nigeria. And these people are of different culture, different religion, different belief, different understanding of life.
“So we all are different in several ways every way. We are not actually meant to be together. You must have heard about the Biafran war. My mom was born a few years before we defended ourselves. We defended ourselves for over a long period of time,” she added.
Kanu’s wife continued that Biafrans are now suffering. “We don’t have better schools, we don’t have better roads, we don’t have anything, not even jobs,” she added.
“So that is why what they are doing is to live. So I would say referendum is not a bad idea, is not about an option, but the people need to understand why we want Biafra.
“And that’s what Nnamdi Kanu is doing, sanitising his people, creating awareness. And you can see that a lot of people have woken up from slumber. Most people who are sleeping have come to realise that this is really what it should be. I mean if he releases and he stops it means he’s been defeated or he doesn’t know what he wanted in the first place.
“But if you know the reason why you are asking for something, you asking for bread because you are hungry,and then you released from jail but still didn’t receive you bread, you are still hungry. so he would continue, he will yes,” Kanu’s wife concluded.
