IPOB strips Kanu of authority

IPOB’s Directorate of State has indefinitely suspended Nnamdi Kanu’s office as leader and his role as Radio Biafra director, citing dangerous communications from his Sokoto prison cell that have reportedly led to arrests and deaths of members.

The cracks within IPOB just got a whole lot wider. The group’s Directorate of State has moved to freeze Nnamdi Kanu’s authority entirely, announcing the indefinite suspension of both the Office of the Leader of IPOB and the position of Director of Radio Biafra, positions long occupied by the detained separatist agitator.

The dramatic decision followed a full-house Directorate meeting on June 17, and the reasons behind it are damning. The DOS said it acted after becoming “mindful that certain unguarded communications from Sokoto prison to those in Biafraland has caused unnecessary arrests and death of IPOB family members in Biafraland.”

The Guardian reported that the leadership also noted that Kanu’s visitors and activities are heavily monitored by the Department of State Services, and flagged concern over a separate plan by certain individuals to set up a new militia that could trigger fresh violence in the region.

The statement made clear this was about protecting the movement, not punishing the man. The DOS said the suspension would “prevent unchecked actions, reckless assumption of authority and unguarded utterances from resulting in the reckless arrests, torture and needless death of Biafran youths.”

The DOS also fired back at Kanu’s own attempt to dissolve its authority from behind bars, declaring any purported dissolution of the Directorate “ab initio null and void,” insisting IPOB was built by a collective, not one man.