Nnamdi Kanu should be ignored despite ‘hell’ threat, says Poll

After the reappearance of the Nigerian separatist leader, Nnamdi Kanu, 13 months after he disappeared with whereabouts unknown, Nigerians say the Federal Government should ignore him.

The leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) said in a recent broadcast on Facebook that he has resumed his agitation for an independent Biafra and that he “bring hell with me.”

In spite of his open threat to Nigerian internal security, a vast majority of respondents to The Guardian poll said the Nigerian government should ignore the IPOB leader.

The poll carried out on the newspaper’s Twitter handle and website showed that 68 per cent of the respondents say Kanu’s threat is inconsequential.

Similar opinion was expressed by the country’s Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed, who during an interview on AIT’s Kakaaki programme on Wednesday said no government will expend too much energy on Kanu.

“No government will waste too much energy or effort. I think the government will be making sure that the country is safe,” Mohammed said.

However, 17 per cent of the poll participants believed the IPOB leader is a threat to the country while 15 per cent said his capacity to trouble the Nigerian security apparatus has been diminished.

The presidency declared the IPOB a terrorist group days after Kanu disappeared, noting that it did so in order to halt group global funding and, by extension, its ‘future’.