Governor Charles Soludo of Anambra State has explained the reasons for his recent calls on President Muhammadu Buhari to release Nnamdi Kanu, the detained leader of the outlawed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).
The governor first made a public call on January 14 for the “unconditional and immediate” release of the IPOB leader during the launch of the Grand Alliance of All Progressives campaign in Awka.
“I passionately call on the federal government to unconditionally release Mazi Nnamdi Kanu. If he cannot be released unconditionally, I want him released and I will be his bail,” the governor had said.
‘Why am I calling for the release of Kanu’
Speaking on Tuesday during Anambra Tribute Day, an event held in honor of the late Nigerian former Aviation Minister Mbazulike Amaechi, Soludo repeated the call for Kanu’s release.
The governor explained that he has been making the call because he believes Mr. Kanu’s release would help expose criminals carrying out attacks in the south-east under the guise of Biafran unrest.
Some gunmen said to be part of the IPOB agitation in the south-east have been carrying out deadly attacks mainly against government installations and security agencies in the region.
IPOB is leading the agitation for an independent Biafra state that wants to secede from the southeast and some parts of south-south Nigeria.
“My aim in calling for the release of Nnamdi Kanu is to separate the chaff from the substance. When he (Kanu) is released, we will know who the real agitation fighters and criminals are.
“That is why I ask for his release, not because his release automatically ends insecurity (in the southeast),” Soludo said, quoted by his spokesman, Christian Aburime.
The governor, in May, visited the IPOB leader at the premises of the Nigerian secret police, the State Security Service, in Abuja, explaining that the visit was part of his “broader consultations with critical stakeholders” to guarantee lasting peace and security in the South. this.
“When I visited Nnamdi Kanu in prison, I told him how criminals posing as freedom fighters kidnapped and killed people. He called it an abomination,” Soludo recalled.
Arrest
Mr. Kanu was first arrested in 2015 but released on bail in April 2017. He fled the country after the army invaded his home in Afara-Ukwu, near Umuahia, Abia State. Nigerian military in September of that year.
He was re-arrested in Kenya and brought back to Nigeria in June 2021, some four years after he fled the country.
The Abuja Court of Appeal on October 13 held that the IPOB leader was extraordinarily handed over to Nigeria and that the action was a flagrant violation of the country’s extradition treaty and also a violation of his fundamental human rights.
Therefore, the court struck down the terrorism charges brought against Mr. Kanu by the Nigerian government and ordered his release from SSS custody.
But the government refused to release the IPOB leader, insisting that he (Kanu) might not be available in subsequent court proceedings if released and that his release would cause insecurity in the south-east.
The government, through the Federal Attorney General’s Office, subsequently appealed the court ruling and subsequently obtained an order suspending the execution of the ruling in the Supreme Court of Justice.