By Charles Adingupu
For the second time this year, the Governor of Anambra State, Professor Charles Soludo has appealed to President Muhammadu Buhari to release the incarcerated leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Mazi Nnamdi Kanu.
The Governor in an open letter to the outgoing President yesterday, glimpsed by The New Diplomat, promised that the release of the IPOB Leader would permanently address the lingering insecurity crisis in the South East.
Soludo disclosed that the release of Mr Kanu would checkmate the soaring activities of criminals, masquerading as members of the IPOB to unleash mayhem on unsuspecting Nigerians.
He urged the President to as a matter of expediency, approve the release of the embattled IPOB leader as a parting gift of his administration to the people of the South East.
It would be recalled that the Governor first made a public appeal on January 14th, for the “unconditional and immediate” release of the IPOB leader during the campaign flag-off of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) in Awka, Anambra State capital.
Governor Soludo gave reasons for his calls to President Buhari to release Mr. Nnamdi Kanu, the detained leader of the outlawed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).
“I am making a passionate appeal to the Federal Government to release Mazi Nnamdi Kanu unconditionally. If he cannot be released unconditionally, I want him released to me and I will stand surety for him,” the governor had said.
Some gunmen said to be part of IPOB’s agitation in the South-east, have been carrying out deadly attacks mainly on government facilities and security agencies in the region.
IPOB is leading the agitation for an independent state of Biafra to be carved out from the South-east and some parts of South-south Nigeria.
“My goal in calling for Nnamdi Kanu’s release is to separate the chaff from the substance. When he (Kanu) is released, we will know who the true agitation fighters and criminals are.
This is why I’m pleading for his release, not because his release will automatically end insecurity (in the South-east),” Mr Soludo stated.
The governor, in May this year, visited the IPOB leader at the facility of Nigeria’s secret police, Directorate of State Security in Abuja, explaining that the visit was part of his “wider consultations with critical stakeholders” to ensure lasting peace and security in the South-east.
“When I visited Mr kanu in prison in Abuja, I
told him about how criminals posing as freedom fighters were kidnapping and killing people. He called it an abomination,” Mr Soludo recalled.
It would also be recalled that Mr Kanu was first arrested in 2015 but was granted bail in April 2017.
He fled the country after an invasion of his home in Afara-Ukwu, near Umuahia, Abia State, by the Nigerian military in September of that year.
He was re-arrested in Kenya and brought back to Nigeria in June 2021, about four years after he fled the country.
The Court of Appeal, Abuja, on 13 October, held that the IPOB leader was extra-ordinarily renditioned to Nigeria and that the action was a flagrant violation of the country’s extradition treaty and also a breach of his fundamental human rights.
The court, therefore, struck out the terrorism charges filed against Mr Kanu by the Nigerian government and ordered his release.
