The apex socio-political group, Ohanaeze Ndigbo has called on President Bola Tinubu to ensure that Nnamd Kanu, leader of the Indigenous People Of Biafra (IPOB) is released on the 15th of December.
The group said Tinubu should extend this significant gesture to the South-East region during the festive season.
With a crucial Supreme Court decision approaching, the group’s Vice-President emphasized the importance of Kanu’s release for the hopes of the South-East people.
Damian Okeke-Ogene, speaking for Ohanaeze, counters allegations that local leaders are contributing to Kanu’s prolonged detention.
The group charged President Bola Tinubu to emulate ex-presidents, Umaru Musa Yar’adua and Goodluck Jonathan who used the carrot-and-stick approach to stop the issue of militancy in the Niger Delta region.
He said, “We don’t want to dwell much on the politics about the release of Kanu. If he is released on December 15, it is long overdue because competent courts of jurisdiction have on two occasions found him not guilty and also released him, but till now, nothing was done about it.
“So, we hope that the Supreme Court will equally do justice to it with the expectation that every Igbo man is expecting that President Bola Tinubu should know that the money and lives being wasted on the issue are not worth it. And he should, therefore, set the man free as a Christmas gift to the South-East if he truly wants peace to return to the region.
“The President should emulate former Presidents Umaru Yar’Adua and Goodluck Jonathan, who used the carrot and stick approach to stop the issue of militancy in the Niger Delta region. The average Igbo person is also facing the same situation.
“Kanu should be a free man from December 15 and anything short of that has dashed the hope of the whole of the people of South-East this Christmas. If he is not released, it will be a black Christmas in the region.
“We are not in the position to pre-empt the court but for now, we are looking up to the Supreme Court, if it is a country where the judiciary works, we don’t have to be afraid that the Federal Government would influence the judgment.
“As far as we know, there is a group now using the agitation to cause insecurity in the region. First of all, if Kanu is released, we will hear from him and we will all join hands together to discuss these issues. And our people hiding in the bushes would come out and be rehabilitated.
“On Simon Ekpa and his group in Finland, we believe that the Federal Government is enjoying what they are doing, otherwise there is a diplomatic way of resolving the issue. It is a government-to-government collaboration and the Federal Government has not explored that avenue to resolve the situation.”
Meanwhile, the spokesman of IPOB, Emma Powerful, ahead of the Supreme Court judgment, has raised concern over the promotion of Justice Tsammani Haruna to the Supreme Court.
Powerful, in a statement he issued on Sunday, claimed that Justice Haruna’s promotion was a reward for remanding Kanu in the DSS detention without any charge.
He said, “Recall that Haruna was the judge who okayed the stay of execution of the appeal of the Federal Government after the Appeal Court judges discharged and acquitted Mazi Nnamdi Kanu on October 13, 2022.
“IPOB hopes that Justice Tsammani Haruna was not hastily promoted to the Supreme Court to influence the panel that will deliver the judgment on Mazi Nnamdi Kanu’s case on December 15, 2023.
“It is unlawful for a judge to stay the execution order on a declaratory judgment of the Appeal Court and be made to sit on the Supreme Court to further decide on that case.
“Nevertheless, Justice Tsammani Haruna turned the law on its head and stayed the execution of the Appeal Court judgment that declared the kidnap and extraordinary rendition of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu as unlawful.”
