Biafra post
By Anyi Kings
Published On the Biafra Post
July 20,2026
> “What share have we in David? We have no inheritance in the son of Jesse. To your tents, O Israel! Now, see to your own house, O David!” — 1 Kings 12:16
The biblical phrase “To your tents, O Israel!” provides the perfect answer to the argument that the worst character a freedom fighter can portray is being removed from office and then continuing to fight.
No.
The worst character a freedom fighter can portray is not fighting after losing office.
A genuine freedom fighter does not quit simply because he loses a position.
The real question is what he is fighting for after losing that position.
Is he fighting for the freedom of the people?
Or is he fighting to regain control of the people?
That is the question now confronting Mazi Nnamdi Kanu.
THE BIBLICAL LESSON
After the death of King Solomon, representatives of the ten northern tribes of Israel, led by Jeroboam, approached Rehoboam with a reasonable request:
> “Your father made our yoke heavy; now therefore, lighten the burdensome service of your father, and his heavy yoke which he put on us, and we will serve you.”
The people were not quitting Israel.
They were not abandoning their identity.
They were not abandoning their nation.
They were asking for better leadership.
But Rehoboam rejected the counsel of the older and wiser advisers. He listened instead to the advice of his younger advisers, who encouraged him to adopt a harsher and more confrontational approach.
When the people realised that the new king had no intention of listening to them, they declared:
> “To your tents, O Israel!”
The ten tribes walked away from Rehoboam's authority.
They did not walk away from the struggle.
They simply withdrew their submission from a leadership they no longer trusted.
That is exactly the lesson many people appear to be missing in the current IPOB crisis.
A FREEDOM FIGHTER DOES NOT QUIT BECAUSE HE IS REMOVED
Let us be clear.
A freedom fighter does not quit because he is removed from office.
He does not abandon the struggle because he loses a position.
He does not surrender because an institution he once led no longer submits to his personal authority.
But neither can a leader assume that the people will continue to follow him simply because he once had their trust.
Leadership is not personal property.
It is not inherited.
It is not permanently guaranteed.
It is a responsibility voluntarily entrusted by the people.
And what is voluntarily given can be voluntarily withdrawn.
That is the reality confronting Nnamdi Kanu today.
THE ADVICE THAT CHANGED EVERYTHING
Kanu did not arrive at this point by accident.
He accepted advice from those around him—including his lawyers and siblings.
That advice led him to dissolve the Directorate of State, declare the expulsion of members of the established leadership structure and create what he presented as a new administration.
But here is the problem:
He could dissolve the structure. He could not dissolve the people.
He could declare the DOS dissolved.
He could announce a new administration.
He could appoint new individuals.
But he could not command millions of people to accept a structure they had not chosen.
And that is where the political calculation appears to have failed.
The people did not necessarily see the dissolution of the DOS as the end of the DOS.
Instead, they saw it as an attempt to dismantle an institution that had become bigger than the personal authority of one individual.
The result is now visible.
The people have continued to align themselves with the institutional leadership under Mazi Chikadibia Edoziem.
The very structure that was declared dissolved continues to command the loyalty of the people.
And this is the most painful political reality for any leader:
You can dissolve an institution on paper and still lose the people in reality.
KANU DOES NOT OWN BIAFRA
Nnamdi Kanu is not the owner of Biafra.
No individual owns Biafra.
Biafra is not a personal estate.
It is not a company owned by one man.
It is the collective aspiration of a people.
Kanu became a leader because the people voluntarily gave him their trust.
They believed in him.
They followed him.
They sacrificed for him.
They defended him.
They made him the face of a global freedom movement.
But that trust was never an irrevocable contract.
The same people who gave him their trust have the right to withdraw it.
And that is precisely what is happening.
The people are saying:
“We still want Biafra. We still want freedom. We still want self-determination. But we no longer accept your personal control over the movement.”
That is the meaning of “To your tents, O Israel!”
THE QUESTION OF VIOLENCE
The crisis became even deeper because Kanu's approach moved further away from the peaceful, institutional and diplomatic strategy that had been established by the DOS.
Instead of maintaining a disciplined and diplomatic approach to the struggle, Kanu accepted a direction that brought him closer to violent groups and violent methods.
Those violent activities have resulted in the deaths of innocent civilians and security agents.
And no serious freedom struggle can ignore the consequences of its methods.
A movement fighting for the freedom of its people cannot destroy the same people it claims to be liberating.
It cannot turn communities into battlefields and then call the destruction liberation.
It cannot kill innocent people and security personnel and expect the world to accept that violence as the legitimate face of a freedom movement.
The DOS chose the path of institutional organisation, peaceful agitation and diplomatic engagement.
Kanu chose a different direction.
And the people have now made their choice.
THE PEOPLE HAVE NOT ABANDONED THE STRUGGLE
This is where the entire argument collapses.
The people have not quit.
The people have not abandoned Biafra.
The people have not surrendered.
They have simply disengaged from Kanu's personal leadership.
That is the distinction.
The struggle continues.
The institution continues.
The people continue.
But the personal authority of Kanu is no longer accepted by the majority that once followed him.
This is the equivalent of the ten tribes of Israel saying:
“We remain Israel. But we will no longer submit to this authority.”
And that is why the current situation is not simply a quarrel over an office.
It is a battle between personal authority and institutional authority.
Kanu believed that dissolving the DOS would end the DOS.
The people proved otherwise.
He believed that removing its members would remove their influence.
The people proved otherwise.
He believed that creating a new administration would automatically transfer the loyalty of the movement.
The people proved otherwise.
And this is the bitterest lesson in leadership:
A leader can control an office and still lose the people.
THE REALITY OF “TO YOUR TENTS, O ISRAEL!”
So when someone says the worst character a freedom fighter can portray is being removed from office and continuing to fight, the answer is simple:
No.
The worst mistake is believing that losing control of an institution means the people have lost their freedom to choose another leadership.
The ten northern tribes did not abandon Israel when they declared:
> “To your tents, O Israel!”
They abandoned the authority of Rehoboam.
The same thing is happening today.
The people are not abandoning Biafra.
They are not abandoning the struggle.
They are not abandoning freedom.
They are simply withdrawing their submission from a leadership they no longer trust.
And the most important lesson is this:
Biafra is bigger than Nnamdi Kanu.
Kanu is not Biafra.
The DOS is not Biafra.
No individual is Biafra.
The people are Biafra.
The struggle is Biafra.
And when the people voluntarily give a leader their trust, they retain the right to voluntarily take it back.
So, perhaps the real message from the people today is:
> “We are still fighting for freedom.
We are still fighting for Biafra.
But we are no longer fighting under your personal control.”
To your tents, O Israel!
The people have chosen.
The struggle continues.
But the leader who once believed he controlled the movement must now confront the difference between leading the people and losing the people.
Anyi Kings 👑
July 2026
