Lawyer Backs Ejimakor, Says Mandela Analogy Proves Kanu’s Legal Team Deserves Respect

ABUJA — Human-rights lawyer Ikechukwu Obasi has weighed in on the recent rifts culminating into controversial debate over who should be in charge of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) following the incarceration of its leader, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, insisting that decisions not endorsed by a detained leader are bound to fail.

In a post on his official X handle tagging @AloyEjimakor, Kanu’s special counsel, Obasi said Ejimakor “is right,” while faulting a rebuttal that invoked anti-apartheid figure Oliver Tambo. The comparison, Obasi argued, was misplaced: “Tambo Oliver is likened to IPOB Head of Directorates of State, HDOS, Mazi Chika Edozie. He maintained that Nelson Mandela was still in charge of the struggle from prison just like Kanu ought to be, adding that Tambo Oliver was doing the work likened to that of IPOB HDOS. “Whatever decision that wasn’t endorsed by Mandela failed. Just like the path Winnie took.”

“Your analogy is wrong. Respect MNK’s legal team,” he added.

Obasi’s post taps a long-running dispute over authority and messaging within the pro-Biafra movement, using the Mandela precedent to argue that leadership exercised from detention remains decisive—and that Kanu’s legal team, led by Ejimakor, should be accorded respect.

Obasi’s position pushes back against comparisons to Oliver Tambo, the ANC leader who steered the anti-apartheid struggle in exile. Obasi likens Tambo’s external role to that of “HDOS, Mazi Chika Edozie,” while insisting the decisive factor is the imprisoned leader’s imprimatur. He added that initiatives that lacked his approval—“just like the path Winnie took”—ultimately failed.

Obasi’s intervention touches a sensitive, recurring fault line within the pro-Biafra movement: whether directives, negotiations or public statements carry weight without Kanu’s explicit endorsement. He concluded the Mandela analogy while urging critics to “respect MNK’s legal team.”