People
Nnamdi Kanu: Biography, Relationship, and Net worth
Originally posted 2021-08-10 18:20:04.
Nnamdi Kanu Biography and Profile
Nnamdi Okwu Kanu was born on the 25th of September 1967. He Hails from Nigeria, and he’s also a British citizen.
Nnamdi Kanu is a Pro-Biafra Political activist. He’s the main leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra(IPOB).
Nnamdi Kanu founded IPOB in 2014. The main objective and goal of the IPOB movement are to restore the separatist state of Biafra that existed in Nigeria’s Eastern Region during the Civil War that took in Nigeria between 1967-1970.
The talk of a breakaway is not new; in 1967, General Ojukwu led some Igbo leaders to declare a Biafran State. The war in 1967 led to the death of thousands of people. The secessionist Movement was conquered.
The whole idea of Biafra was long forgotten by people until Nnamdi Kanu stepped in and started taking up the cause.
In 2009, he started a radio station called “RADIO BIAFRA,” IN THE United Kingdom. This was when he started becoming popular.
On October 14, 2015, Nnamdi Kanu was arrested by the Nigerian Government and charged with treason in Lagos. He was in prison for more than a year. When he was in court, he was seen wearing a Jewish prayer shawl and head covering. He stated that he believes in Judaism and considers himself a Jew. He had frequently led his Biafran people to various Jewish prayers and religious practices.
He was released on bail on April 28, 2017. In Early 2021, in a low-level Biafran separatist uprising, Kanu played a major role in the uprising in South-East Nigeria. Nigerian security forces tried to quench the Eastern Security Network, which was the military arm of IPOB. Despite the struggles, Kanu maintained that IPOB was interested in a peaceful solution without violence to achieve Biafran independence. He was arrested in June 2021 and transferred to Nigeria via Interpol.
Nnamdi Kanu Profile Summary
Date of birth: September 25, 1967
Nationality: Nigerian
Website: ipob.org/
Notable Work: Radio Biafra
Occupation: Political Economist
Movement: Indigenous People of Biafra
Spouse(s): Uchechi Okwu Kanu
Nnamdi Kanu Relationship and Early Life.
Nnamdi was born on the 25th of September 1967 in Isiama Afra Ukwu, Umuahia, Abia State. Abia state is one of the State territories under the Republic of Biafra.
HRM Eze Israel Okwu Kanu is his father (A traditional Ruler), and Ugoeze Nnenne Kanu is his mother. He was raised in Umuahia. Nnamdi Kanu was the first child out of five children and the first Son of his father.
Kanu attended Library Avenue Primary School and Government College Umuahia for his secondary education. He attended UNN (University of Nigeria, Nsukka) and then moved to the United Kingdom before graduating. On January 5, 2016, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu married Uchechi Kanu. Their union was blessed with a newborn boy born at an undisclosed hospital while he was in detention.
Biafran history
Before anyone could start any movement that has to do with historical facts, he/she must be aware and updated on what happened in the Past. Nnamdi Kanu was a person who has a Voracious Appetite for Historical Books. After studying different religions, cultures, beliefs, ethnic groups, and other aspects of life, he believes that everything ethnic group in Nigeria should not be together as a nation because they are different in so many ways.
His entire wish was to restore Biafra as a nation for the Igbo community. Kanu took up arms to fight the battle after learning that Ralph Uwazuruike (Former leader of the Movement for the Actualization of Biafra) was collecting money from the Government in the name of the pro-Biafra struggle for personal aggrandizement at the expense of the Biafran struggle.
Early Activism
Kanu started his activism movement as a Radio Biafra director and anchor. Kanu began his activism for Biafra’s freedom as a director of Radio Biafra and an anchor of Biafra awareness under Ralph Uwazuruike, leader of the Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB), who stated during a meeting in Kaduna, Nigeria on June 12, 2014, that he handed over Radio Biafra to Nnamdi Kanu, leader of IPOB.
On the other hand, Radio Biafra was founded in 1967 by the defunct Biafran Government to advocate the Biafran cause. Kanu was a relatively unknown figure until 2009 when he founded Radio Biafra, a station that campaigned for an independent state for the Igbo people and broadcast from London to Nigeria.
He founded IPOB in 2014.
Nnamdi Kanu spoke as a guest speaker at the World Igbo Congress in Los Angeles on September 5, 2015, telling his audience that “we need guns and we need bullets.”
Interesting Facts about the IPOB Leader
1. He Wanted Biafra By All Means
All Kano wanted was freedom for Biafra to be established. He believed that Biafra was the “promised land,” and his mission was to make his dream come true. All is planned after the Soldiers stormed his village in Abia state in the year 2017. As a result, he was overthrown as the leader of the IPOB.
2. He is No Longer the IPOB Leader
Nnamdi Kanu has been accused of escaping with embezzled funds donated to promote the cause after his disappearance in 2017 following an army invasion of his home. In 2016, it was recorded by Amnesty International that the Nigerian security forces had close to 150 of his followers. Before he disappeared, more death was recorded. This means he has lots of supporters not to think of those not present with him.
3. He Has a Massive Fan Base
Nnamdi Kanu has worked hard for Biafra, gathering for himself many fans. Many of his supporters have been caught worshiping him, kissing his feet, and calling him their savior. His followers don’t mind if they lose their life; that’s to show the extent they love and believe in him.
Arrest
Kanu was arrested in Lagos state on October 18, 2015, by Nigeria’s secret police, that is, the DEPARTMENT OF STATE SERVICES (DSS). Kanu told his lawyers that he was detained in his hotel room at the Golden Tulip Essential Hotel Ikeja, Lagos State, on October 14, 2015, by officials of the Federal Government of Nigeria, the State Security Service (SSS). [23] In a press conference, the solicitors stated that their client’s whereabouts were uncertain between October 14 and October 17, 2015, until the press media broke the news of his arrest and imprisonment by the SSS in Abuja on October 18, 2015. [23] Protests erupted in Delta State, Enugu State, Rivers State, Abia State, Cross River State, Imo State, Akwa Ibom State, Bayelsa State, and Anambra State following Kanu’s arrest.
Court Trail
On November 18, 2015, Magistrate Court 1 in Abuja instructed the Department of State Services (DSS) to bring Kanu to court on November 23, 2015. [28] According to reports, the Department of State Services (DSS) has secured a “secret court order to jail Nnamdi Kanu,”
In an interview, Kanu’s lawyer, Vincent Obetta, said the prosecutor handed him a paper carrying a court order for the Department of State Services (DSS) to imprison Kanu for the next three months to “conclude what they stated was an investigation of terrorism and terrorism financing.”
Meanwhile, Kanu’s loyalists descended to Nigeria’s capital city of Abuja in luxurious buses in a peaceful protest supporting their leader, who the Federal Government arraigned before the Wuse Zone 2 Magistrate Court in Abuja on November 23, 2015.
While the hearing was going on, pro-Biafra protestors with placards sang and danced outside the courthouse. T-shirts and caps bearing slogans like “Biafra Now or Never,” “Buhari Release Kanu For Us,” and “On Biafra, We Stand” were worn by protesters.
More IPOB protests, involving over 15,000 people, halted vehicle traffic in Onitsha, a key economic hub in the southeast. On the same day, nearly 20,000 demonstrators gathered in Aba, Abia State.
Kanu, through his lawyer, applied with the Federal government, requesting that he be transferred from the Department of State Services (DSS) to prison. Obetta, his attorney, maintained that moving his client to prison would allow him easy access to his legal team.
The Department of State Services (DSS) asked the Wuse Zone 2 Senior Magistrates’ Court to dismiss Nnamdi Kanu’s trial under section 108(1) of the Administration of the criminal justice act 2015.
Idakwo went on to say that the Department of State Services (DSS) had acquired a 90-day detention order from the Federal High Court in Abuja on November 10.
Kanu’s lawyer, Obetta, however, protested his client’s continuing imprisonment.
Obetta asked the court not to dismiss the case because the prosecution had not presented any evidence from the Attorney-General of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, who had the right to do so. “The DSS disobeyed the order of the court which provided bail that was finalized but not given,” Obetta said in court, adding that “the accused had been in Department of State Services (DSS) custody since he was arrested.” [41] After hearing both sides, the court’s magistrate, Usman Shuaibu, delayed the case until December 1, 2015, for a decision.
ALSO, READ: Naija Music Download
Nnamdi Kanu’s Prison Release and disappearance
Vanguard announced on October 20, 2015, that Nnamdi had been released on bail. However, news sources supportive of IPOB’s goals described the bail as “controversial,” claiming that the DSS announced the bail to “calm the furious people of Biafra.” Justice Binta Nyako has finally released Kanu on bail due to his health.
Kanu vanished from public view when the Nigerian military attacked his residence in September 2017, resulting in the deaths of 28 IPOB members. After not being seen in public for over a year, there was widespread suspicion about his location, with IPOB members accusing the Buhari administration of kidnapping him. Unattributed images and videos purporting to show him in Israel were widely disseminated on social media in October 2018, and mainstream media later corroborated this.
Despite his reappearance, his exact location and living quarters remained a mystery over the next years.
Nnamdi Kanu’s net worth (Latest)
Nnamdi Kanu is the Director of Radio Biafra and the ‘Supreme Commander’ of Biafra (IPOB). His net worth is reported to be $277,233. (N100 Million). According to former top IPOB members who fell out with Nnamdi Kanu, Kanu’s main source of revenue is donations from around the world for the Biafran fight, which he allegedly diverts for personal use.
Kanu is said to have a sizable cash reserve, which he received from Igbos worldwide, who support Biafra. The same system is utilized to cater to and operate Radio Biafra regularly.
Does Nnamdi Kanu Have a Job?
No, Nnamdi Kanu is the director of Radio Biafra and the Indigenous People of Biafra’s “Supreme Commander” (IPOB). He earns money and is supported by donations from Igbos all over the world who support the Biafran fight. The IPOB also charges its members a monthly fee of N1,000, which is claimed to fund the Biafra cause.
Continued Biafran activism (Story)
Mazi Nnamdi Kanu
In a June 2017 interview, Kanu demanded bullets and guns from a group of Nigerians based in the United States for self-defense against the ongoing attacks on Igbos by Fulani herdsmen in Biafra lands.
Kanu’s coherent strategy has been to use civil disobedience to press home his demand for his people’s freedom. Nnamdi Kanu has stated on numerous occasions that his adoption of Martin Luther King Jr. and Mahatma Gandhi’s forms of civil disobedience will result in the “restoration of Biafra.”
Nnamdi Kanu expressed his faith in the teachings of Martin Luther King Jr. and Mahatma Gandhi in an interview with Newsweek. “I hope that what we are looking for can be accomplished peacefully. I am an advocate of passive resistance. Gandhi and Martin Luther King tried it to excellent effects, so why should it not work in our case?”
Before the 2019 presidential election, IPOB threatened to boycott it.
According to IPOB leader Nnamdi Kanu, “It [the boycott] is a multi-faceted approach. It is civil disobedience, passive resistance. It is an expression of our resentment of Nigeria and what it represents”.
Kanu’s stance on election boycotts was strongly criticized by local Nigerian politicians who argued the opposite. the evening before the election, Nnamdi Kanu lifted his boycott position and urged Biafrans to vote, describing his situation as “signed, sealed, and delivered.” [47] His change was interpreted differently by different people as being receptive to the appeals and opinions of others.
2021 Insurgency and second arrest
Kanu announced in December 2020 that IPOB had established the Eastern Security Network (ESN), which was to safeguard southeastern Nigerians from bandits and armed Fulani herders. Kanu later gave all governors in southeast Nigeria 14 days to ban open grazing, threatening to deploy the ESN to enforce the ban if the authorities did not.
The formation of a non-state-sanctioned paramilitary organization was deemed unacceptable by the Nigerian Government, and the group was suppressed. The situation deteriorated further in January 2021, when the Nigerian military was repulsed in its attempt to expel the ESN from Orlu, Imo.
Kanu ordered the ESN to pull out to the bush before launching another offensive, effectively ending the conflict for the time being. [ On February 18, the Nigerian army and air force resumed hostilities by launching a military offensive against the ESN; the next day, IPOB proclaim that a state of war had been declared between Nigeria and Biafra as of February 18.
As a result, IPOB and other Biafran separatist groups began to mobilize and fight security forces in several southern Nigerian states. Despite this, Kanu maintained that IPOB was seeking a nonviolent resolution to the conflict and that the ESN was supposed to fight bandits, not Nigerian security forces. Regardless, Nigerian authorities labeled IPOB a terrorist organization and accused Kanu of instigating violence.
Nnamdi Kanu has arrested in Kenya or possibly another location by Interpol on June 27, 2021, and deported to Nigeria, where he is expected to face trial.
Kanu’s brother claimed that Kenyan authorities had detained him. Kenyan High Commissioner Wilfred Machage disproves this claim, claiming that Kenyan authorities were not involved in the arrest and challenging anyone to present evidence to the contrary. When the BBC attempted to obtain Interpol’s Abuja office information, the latter did not return calls.
Kanu’s arrest has outraged Biafran separatists and other Nigerians who support his cause. The arrest was described as “illegal abduction and international gangsterism” by the World Igbo Congress (WIC). [56] Following his arrest, questions were raised about “Kanu’s disregard for the Nigerian constitution” in fleeing bail in 2017. Kanu told the presiding judge during his arraignment in court on June 29, 2021, says he was forced to quit Nigeria by the Nigerian military in 2017.
Frequently Asked Questions (F.A.Q) About Nnamdi Kanu
1. What is Nnamdi Knau Instagram’s Handle?
You can Follow Nnamdi Kanu on Instagram using this link https://www.instagram.com/mazinnamdikanu/
2. What is Nnamdi Knau Twitter’s Handle?
You can follow Nnamdi Kanu on Twitter @ https://twitter.com/mazinnamdikanu
3. Does Nnamdi Kanu have a Child?
4. Who is Nnamdi Kanu wife?
Nnamdi kanu’s wife is Uchechi Okwu Kanu.
5. Who is the Father of Nnamdi Kanu?
Kanu’s father’s name is Eze Israel Okwu Kanu (JP), and his mother, is Ugoeze Nnenne Kanu.
6. What is the meaning of IPOB?
IPOB means The Indigenous People of Biafra.
Controversies
The following is a list of Kanu’s controversial utterances, all of which can be accessible on the Internet:
1. Nnamdi Kanu made a podcast in 2016 on his radio Biafra saying that 99.9% of Igbo girls are prostitutes.
2. A video of Kanu was published in 2017 in which he made an open death threat against former Nigerian president Chief Olusegun Obasanjo. He warned a gathering of supporters at his residence that, Members of IPOB should remove Obasanjo and his bloodline if any damage comes to him. [58] This was in response to Obasanjo’s statement at a rally in Abuja that “everything must be done” to put an end to IPOB.
3. Kanu promised IPOB members and his father’s relatives shortly after his release that he would go to Aso Rock and dislodge the president’s head, Major-General Muhammadu Buhari (retd).
4. Before his first visit to Nigeria, Nnamdi Kanu issued a call for Igbos to boycott ‘Yoruba churches’ and possibly attack ‘Yoruba pastors’ who visited the East. Pastor Kumuyi, the General Overseer of Deeper Life Ministries, was scheduled to visit the South East at the time. Fear caused the pastor’s trip to the southeast to be canceled.
5. Kemi Omololu-Olunloyo, a Nigerian investigative journalist, claimed Nnamdi Kanu died in April 2020. On March 7, 2020, the Daily Post reported that Northern and Southern organizations and the Peace Accord Forum (PAF) believe Nnamdi Kanu is dead.
ALSO, READ Davido: Biography, relationship and Net Worth (Latest)
References
1.https://nigerianfinder.com/nnamdi-kanu-biography/
2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nnamdi_Kanu
3. https://buzznigeria.com/nnamdi-kanu-biography-wife-facts/
4.https://nigerianwiki.xyz/nnamdi-kanu-biography-activism-net-worth/
