Nigerian pro-Biafra and pro-independence leader Nnamdi Kanu, who has been missing for a year after a Nigerian army raid, on Sunday disclosed on the radio that he was in Israel and was preparing for his upcoming return.

Kanu also called on his people to boycott the elections in his country.

The former London estate agent who heads the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) movement and the outlawed pirate radio station Radio Biafra, disappeared on 14 September 2017, when the army deployed a troop to his Umuahia town, in the south-east invading his house.

The IPOB will free Biafra and we will not take part in any election until we have a referendum, it is not negotiable, we will achieve it by any means.

There had been fevered speculation that Kanu was in Israel after a video live-streamed on Friday via the Facebook accounts of his known associates appeared to show him praying at the Western Wall in Jerusalem, sparking questions over how he had managed to leave Nigeria.

This occurs on the backdrop of preparations for the general elections scheduled for February and March in Nigeria.