A former member of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Benjamin Madubugwu, has commended the resilience and leadership of Nnamdi Kanu, while criticizing what he described as coordinated efforts to damage the reputation of both Kanu and the organisation he founded.
In a Facebook post, Madubugwu reflected on Kanu's early involvement with the Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra, recalling that he was arrested at Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos in 2005 and allegedly detained by the Department of State Services (DSS) for three months in solitary confinement without access to legal representation or trial because of his association with the group.
According to Madubugwu, despite the experience and his eventual departure from MASSOB under the leadership of Ralph Uwazuruike in 2009, Kanu did not embark on a campaign to undermine the organisation. Instead, he said, Kanu left peacefully and later established IPOB, which he described as a leading platform for self-determination advocacy.
Madubugwu contrasted Kanu's conduct with that of former IPOB Directorate of State official Chika Edoziem, who was recently removed from office and later expelled by the organisation's current leadership.
He alleged that Edoziem and his associates have engaged in sustained efforts to discredit the Directorate of State structure that Kanu himself established, accusing them of attempting to tarnish both the IPOB leader's image and the movement's legacy.
According to Madubugwu, these actions are part of a broader campaign aimed at attaching every perceived failure within the movement to Kanu, a strategy he described as deliberate character assassination.
He further argued that Kanu demonstrated resilience by enduring detention, leaving a previous organisation without public hostility, and building a new movement from the ground up despite significant challenges.
Madubugwu also claimed that those he described as opponents of Kanu have failed to establish alternative structures of their own and instead devote their efforts to attacking the institutions created by the IPOB leader.
He concluded by urging IPOB supporters and observers of the self-determination movement to distinguish between individuals who have built organisations through personal sacrifice and those whose activities, in his view, are primarily directed toward undermining the reputations of others.
The Facebook post has generated discussion among supporters of the movement, adding to ongoing debates over recent leadership changes and internal developments within IPOB.
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