After Odumegwu Ojukwu’s efforts to secure independence for the easterners as the State of Biafra, he ultimately failed due to a lack of essential support and facing betrayals. However, another formidable freedom fighter, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, emerged from the Eastern region with the aim of achieving freedom for his people and establishing the State of Biafra. This post provides the biography of Onyendu, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, and details about his net worth.
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Nnamdi Kanu Biography (early life)
Nnamdi Okwu Kanu was born on September 25, 1967, in Isiama Afara Ukwu, Umuahia, Abia State. Today, he is a prominent pro-Biafra political activist and a British citizen. He serves as the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), a group he established in 2014 with the primary goal of restoring the Biafran State that existed between 1967 and 1970.
Nnamdi Kanu’s Educational Background
His educational journey took him beyond Nigeria. Firstly, he attended Library Avenue Primary School and pursued his secondary education at a Government College in Umuahia.
Subsequently, he enrolled at the University of Nigeria Nsukka before moving to the United Kingdom, where he mainly studied politics and economics at London Guildhall University, known as London Metropolitan University.
One notable aspect of his character is his strong commitment to learning and putting his knowledge into practice to achieve his goals. Additionally, he is identified as a follower of the Judaic faith.
His activisms life
Kanu had the vision to create a room for the freedom of the Eastern region. He started his activism activities first as the Radio Biafra director and anchor of Biafra awareness under Ralph Uwazuruke who was the leader of the Movement for the Actualization of Sovereignty State Of Biafra (MASSOB), though he claimed to be disappointed in having handed over the Biafra Radio station to Kanu during a speech to the press at a meeting held in Kaduna on June 12, 2014.
The Radio Biafra he fought to have was the first established with the purpose of creating Igbo freedom around 1967 when it was known by Ojukwu, Kanu only stood to hold it around 2009 when he started his broadcast to Nigerians from London.
Aside from his heading the station, Kanu neglected the fact of words when he told the audience that we needed guns and bullets, basically in the fight for freedom, when he held a meeting with the World Igbo Congress on September 5, 2015, held in Los Angeles.
This alone draws the mind of the Nigerian government to see what the country could be if it really had the chance of having the Igbo freedom as well as their states.
Nnamdi Kanu’s arrest
After the meeting held on September 5, 2015, Kanu was said to have been arrested by the Nigerian secret police in Lagos on October 18, the same year. Another secret of his arrest was revealed after he was confirmed to have been arrested on October 18 which comprises the arrest made on October 14, 2015 while he was having his rest in a hotel room at the Tulp Essential Hotel in Ikeja, Lagos State.
When he was detained for a day in Nigeria, he sparked a legal protest in Delta, Enugu, Abia, Anambra, Bayesa, Cross River, and other eastern states.With this, it was said by the DSS that he had been granted bail from the magistrate court on the 19th of October 2015 only to quiet the sense of noise from his people who had protested with anger. The bail granted was said to be approved at Wuse II Abuja
Court Jurisdiction
While he was still in detention and had the whole Igbo state requesting his release, the Magistrate court at Seat One demanded that he be produced on the 23rd of November by the Department of State Security, which was said to be a secret order to detain him in the court.
This was exposed by his lawyer, Vincent Obetta, who claimed to have a file containing the details of his three-month hiding just to fulfill the main point of what was called the investigation of terrorism and terrorism financing. Meanwhile, he was finally brought to court on the same November day to appear.
At this point, he was placed on three charges, which were charges of criminal compiracy, intimidation, and illegal membership of an unknown organization by the Department of State Service at the court. With S Usman as the magistrate Chief.
Again, blaming the DSS for over-delaying the matter. However, his supporters stormed Abuja, where he was detained on a peace protest for his release, putting on their Biafra clothes.
His lawyer stood by him, even when he was said to be transferred to prison after Kanu sought a file of such, though his case was later brought down when he was found blameless of what the court had accused him of, including the shifting of his case to the high court in Abuja, which was to last for 90 days.
Prison release and disappearance
However, after his detention, he was finally released on bail by Justice Binta Nyako, who had found out about his health condition and saw what it could have resulted in if he had died in prison.
While in his area of disppearing, he was said to have left the country after his house was surrounded by the military in September 2017, which led to the death of 28 IPOB members.
However, the members blame the government of Buhari with the claim that he abducted him and hid him from the mass, only to see him returned to public view from Israel, where he tends to awaken the sleeping vision.
Continue activisms
Seeing it as if it was okay, Kanu returned to seek a gun and bullet from the group of US base Nigerians for the protection of his people who were attacked by the Fulanis. He exemplified Martin Luther’s belief in civil disobedience, which he claimed would help him gain.
Aside from that, he tried to see how the 2019 election would be boycotted and not held in the Eastern part when he became the leader of the boycott. “It is a multi-faceted approach. It is civil disobedience, passive resistance, and an expression of our resentment of Nigeria and what it represents”, he said.
However, doing so drew harsh criticism from his detractors, prompting him to lift the boycott in order to allow the election to be held in the east.At this point, the Nigerian government’s release has little power to demonstrate.
Nnamdi Kanu’s second arrest in 2021
Prior to his arrest, he was said to have established the Eastern Security Network, which he proclaimed to the Nigerian government to have used to secure the southerners’ protection when he ordered the southerners to ban all the open grazing areas for the Fulanis since the government of the country had failed to do the needful. The network built by him was later brought down after much fighting from the government, along with the air force and other force members.
Although Kanu had a seat at home, he also asked the Igbo to kill any Fulani or anyone who opposed his vision. Finally, he was apprehended in Kenya, where his brother claimed that the Kenyan authorities had arrested him, but the commissioner demonstrated to the public that Keys had no hands to arrest him and that anyone attempting to argue should bring evidence.
This happened on June 27, 2021. He faced trial here in Nigeria and was found not guilty of all charges placed on him, such as terrorism, treason, involvement with a banned separatist movement, inciting public violence through radio broadcasts, and defamation of Nigerian authorities through broadcasts, where he claimed innocence.
Personnel life of Nnamdi Kanu
He is said to have married Uchechi Kanu, whom he legally married after his first wife and is blessed with two children, whose hospital of delivery wasn’t disclosed. However, his two children were born to different women. The Uchechi was able to give him Nnabuike Nnamdi Okwu Kanu, and the second came from his wife. On January 5, he welcomed his first child, there in the United Kingdom, and also celebrated his son’s 5th birthday on January 5, 2021.
Nnamdi Kanu on Twitter
For those who might want to send him messages or have him chart with them, here is the Nnamdi Kanu Twitter account, @MaziNnamdiKanu.
Nnamdi Kanu net worth
The IPOB leader, is estimated to have a net worth of $15million. Despite rumors that he embezzled the Biafra Radio fund, he remains the section’s leader till today.
Source: Nyscinfo.com