Dr Sylvester Onyia is the president of American veterans of Igbo descent (AVID). He has been at the forefront of advocating for the release of Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), who is currently facing charges, including treason. In this exclusive interview with Isuma Mark of THE WHISTLER, Dr. Onyia shares his perspectives on Kanu’s struggle, the political dynamics surrounding his detention, and the role of foreign governments in the issue. Excerpts…
What informed your recent position to play a leading role for Nnamdi Kanu’s release?
I am one of those few people who stand for truth and go to any length to defend it no matter what the consequences may be. Truth is what rules the world. I understand it is hurting to always follow the truth. Some people are easily compromised but not when we are involved.
What is your opinion about the offence he has been charged with– treason? That must be worrying.
Nnamdi Kanu was asking for equity, fairness, to be treated like a human being, not subhuman, to be treated equally. There can’t be any offense in that, could there? No.
So, there shouldn’t be any charges whatsoever. If anything, they should have appreciated him for trying to advance this nation in totality, for trying to give them what other countries have. Other countries would have cherished somebody like him, used his brain to develop this nation, but instead, they want to thwart everything, make up stories, suppress the truth.
They don’t want him to educate his people about their rights. So, there’s no crime. He hasn’t committed any offense.
Nnamdi Kanu does not appear to have support from the South-East political leaders which could have aided his release. What do you think is wrong?
It is just very few people, the so-called elites, the governors, the legislators that are not supporting him. But 99.9% of the people are behind him, anytime, any day, anywhere. So, it’s just a very few handfuls, not even 5%, that are the politicians and the people that they are using. That’s all about it.
He is the man that, when he says anything toward the South East, it happens within minutes and seconds. That’s the man the people are behind. Now, why are the politicians so furious and worried about him? Because he’s one man that, if he brings seven of them together, they can’t beat him.
Because he stands on the path of helping his people, doing what is right for the people. And he’s not even an elected official but commands this.
So, he’s a gift to the South Easterners. He’s a gift to Nigerians. He’s a gift to the world.
I think it’s about time they started recognizing that and thank God for having given them a man of his status.
Are you by any chance saying the political actors are comfortable with him being held?
Of course they are, because they are benefiting from the so-called security votes. I wish the president of this nation would stop giving any votes to anybody, giving them any money.
You cannot promote criminality. So, they are benefiting from whatever thing they are creating. They are the ones creating the insecurity in most instances.
You get ready for your elections. Instead of creating jobs for these masses, you’re not creating jobs. So, you recruit thugs; you form different organizations. You call it Ebube Agu, call it whatever thing you call them. Every one of them is creating something every day. But they are not even chasing the people that are from everywhere, that came from who knows where.
But you are chasing your own people. You are fighting your own youth. So, he’s not the problem. They are the problem. They have not come together to ask for his release. They say it in one lip and the other lip.
They feel he’s a threat to them. He’s not a threat to anybody. They only feel that he’s a threat because they’re not doing what they’re supposed to do. They’re not caring for their people. Nobody’s holding them accountable. That’s for sure.
So, the money that belongs to everybody; the resources that belong to everybody, is to them as their own personal money. No accountability. But you know what? There will come a time when people will be held accountable, whether they like it or not. Not just EFCC but the indigenes holding you accountable for the resources that you have taken overseas. Buying properties in another man’s country when you could use that money and build factories, industries, jobs for your youths.
The youth are not stupid. They are so frustrated. Some of them have finished university three or four years ago but are still living with their mom and dad. What kind of life is that? What is the future that we have for our children?
But Nnamdi Kanu has been blamed by the security and some political leaders from the South-East as being behind the insecurity in the zone by creating IPOB/ESN. What can you say about that?
You know quite well what was happening before ESN. People can’t go to the farm because there were people, herders, killing people. There were a lot of atrocities going on. People didn’t have the freedom to go to their farms. People were killed. Our mothers were maimed. Our girls were being raped. A whole lot of atrocities were going on.
So, ESN is a vigilante group, which ought to make sure that nobody violates your boundaries. And it still remains a vigilante group. I think every village now and every town now has a vigilante just to make sure that you can sleep with your eyes closed. There’s nothing wrong with that.
Now, the people that are benefiting from the insecurity have created the insecurity themselves. The chief security officers of the states that are supposed to be the governors are the ones fuelling this insecurity for their own personal gains and to fight a man that is doing a just cause.
Let me remind you that everything that Kanu has preached has come to fruition. Are we arguing about that? No. ‘Everything I have told them will happen has happened. Why are they still sticking on so scared to do the right thing?’ The answer is that they don’t have any better thing to offer to the masses other than to hold on to power and wait for the next election and squander the money that is meant for everybody and no single development.
But a few of them are doing well. A couple of them know that. Some of them are interested in bringing armies, guns and bullets to us, decimating our youths. You cannot win anything with guns and bullets.
What you win is with dialogue, bringing people together to talk about issues. That is what’s supposed to be done. Not ordering an army to come and deal with people in Orlu in Imo state or you must say now in Anambra, he’s following the same footsteps. This governor went to the United States and said 99.9% of the people’s problems we have are caused by the Igbos. That’s a fallacy. That is the kind of information he probably got from the beer parlour investigation or whatever. He needs to do better than that.
Do you feel Nnamdi Kanu could have adopted a better approach?
He’s always the man for the people. He was just educating his folks. So, if the government, like the state governments, had issues with that, they’re the ones that are supposed to call him. And when they did, he gave them conditions. He told them what they could do. Do much better things, just like I’m saying now. Do much better things for your people.
Should you come after me because I’m giving you free advice, free consultation that he gave them about what to do? That’s just how you can equate it. He was giving them free knowledge. Do this for your people. Protect your people. Protect properties and lives of your people. What can be wrong with that? I don’t see anything wrong with that.
So, you’re asking me if he had started to run for governorship? Of course he would have won without even blinking his eyes. But that wasn’t the issue. He wasn’t into politics.
He was just educating folks and urging the government to do the needful. Protect your people, which you have signed to do. Nobody should even be telling any governor to do protection. Make sure that your place is safe. You can build all the highways, infrastructures, all you want to, but if there’s no security, it’s nothing. So, you concentrate on making security your priority. And security starts from home. Some of them are now living in Abuja. Mind you, you’re the governor.
Aren’t you supposed to be ashamed of yourself? You’re supposed to protect your land. That’s the foremost thing you need to do. Protect, not intimidating people. Because guess what? You can’t solve any problem with bullets and guns. Yes, you use diplomacy, and then bet you revert back to doing what is right for your people.
Could Nnamdi Kanu renounce his agitation and support the civil process especially as the 2027 elections approach?
He hasn’t done anything to make the nation not run smoothly. I started by telling you that there was agitation. The agitation is equity, fairness, treatment of his people, which are the Igbos. Now, he’s not going to be a pawn. He’s not going to be somebody you can use for politics. He’s not interested in that.
I want to recall something to you that you might not be aware of, and a lot of people in this country might not be aware of it. There’s a genuine hatred towards the Igbos. It is the city of London and Wall Street that are the prime enemies of the Igbos. Britain is not pretending about their position. Officially, since 1863, remember the date now, 1863, they excluded the Igbos from the global Hausa constabulary.
What that means is exclusion up till date. So, there’s a timetable and a framework of what is happening to the Igbos, and sometimes we are blindfolded. We don’t understand, so they have to sort themselves out, and this links back to what is happening in Southeast, a very peaceful place, and yet you took their leader, knowing that 99.9% of those youth are behind him, and now you create chaos, and you still go behind to find a way to propagate. Propaganda is the machine they’re using to feel like what he created is not noble and nice, and he gives them the opportunity to find some security for his people. They never did.
The very moment ESN came out, now it became, oh, my God, what for? They need the vigilante to take care of their farms and all those things. So, the engineers of why the Igbos are suffering today from the time of even the 1967-70 that most of our people don’t know, was that they took off history from our curriculums, is why things get repeated, because if our kids are being taught, they will know better than what is happening today.
What would you say is the way out — political solution or …?
The political situation is that I would urge the president of this country, President Tinubu, with his own consciousness, to release this man today, not even tomorrow. He doesn’t have to listen to Britain or anybody. Nigeria has come of age. Nigeria can do whatever Nigeria needs to do, not with foreign powers or influence.
The man you are holding is not your problem. He’s even probably the solution to help you solve the masses’ problem. There’re other great brains in this world we have. He’s one of them. Celebrate him. He shares dual citizenship.
Why do you think the British government has not supported him to free him?
If you’re white and you’re in Europe, Britain will get into it and intervene right away, within two and four hours. If you’re black and you’re in Africa, and you’re the one trying to liberate your people, ‘we do what we do best’. What do they do best? Normally go after people like me and him to assassinate. But that wouldn’t happen in today’s world. We have gone beyond that. So those years of assassinating people are gone.
People should speak up because the suffering is very blatant, it’s very clear. Everybody’s seeing the cost of everything, and no jobs. But we do have all the resources in the world. Africa is sufficient.
What is the British government role in this?
Of course, they’re the ones that are engineering it, shifting the goalposts, spinning it up and down. So, I’m asking the president of this nation to overlook the spinning and do the needful and tell the man, today, tomorrow, come out.
Luckily, they don’t have anything holding him for. You can’t hold people for agitating. If you’re hungry now and your stomach is crying, are you going to tell your stomach, oh, just be quiet? You’re going to be looking for food to eat, right? So that’s all to it. It’s not rocket science. People are agitating because they know they can do better. Just look at the position of the Igbos.
Everywhere you go, somebody is preaching for them not to be treated fairly, and you think the generation of Igbos we have now will always continue to be happy about it? No. Nobody wants to be a slave in a black-man’s nation. Nobody.
So, the UK should stop interfering, they should mind their own business, and leave the Igbos and Nigeria alone. Leave them alone. You have done enough. You have done quite enough in destabilizing these people. You’ve fueled corruption among them, now terrorism. What else do you need to do? Shut everybody up at one time. That can’t happen anymore. Am I not here in your studio now? There was a time when you didn’t even have access to any other media. If it’s not BBC London or BBC whatever, then that’s it. Censorship. That time is gone.
It appears that this is going to be a long, long fight in court. If the government refuses to free Nnamdi Kanu, what happens next?
I trust the wisdom of President Tinubu. He’s a man of courage. If he gets to hear what I said, and you air this, he will release him without minding Britain. He’s the president of this nation.
