No reason to continue holding Nnamdi Kanu, Dan Nwanyanwu tells Tinubu

By Nnamdi Okosieme

Chief Dan Nwanyanwu, Chairman of Zenith Labour Party and the party’s presidential candidate in the 2023 election, has called on President Bola Tinubu to release Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, the detained leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) from detention.
Kanu has been held in detention since June 2021 after being arrested in Kenya and extradited to Nigeria to face treason charges.

Chief Nwanyanwu in a parley with journalists on Saturday in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital, said the time had come to release the IPOB leader from detention as there was no real ground to continue to incarcerate him.

The Zenith Labour Party leader said Nigerians have to interrogate why Kanu is still in detention given that other individuals who like him, agitated for self-determination for their people, were walking free.

“You are aware of the activities of terrorists in this country. You are aware of persons who have been negotiating with terrorists without the brief of government and they see these terrorists all the time. You are aware of those who found themselves in the same agitation Nnamdi Kanu was involved in. Today everybody is free, walking freely on the street. Nnamdi Kanu is still in detention. The Ohanaeze Ndigbo President, Chief Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu, has called for him to be handed over to him. Sir Mbazulike(Amaechi ), before he passed on, also called for the boy to be released to him. A lot of people had spoken during Buhari but President Buhari due to ancient hatred for the Igbo decided to keep him and incarcerate him”, Chief Nwanyanwu said.

Chief Nwanyanwu stated that recently, the five Governors (of South East) came together for the first time after a long time to call for the release of the IPOB leader and wondered why it was proving difficult to release Kanu from incarceration.

“I don’t know what he did that he should be there when others are out of prison or detention. He merely agitated like others. They had to hijack him in Kenya and brought him here. But the truth still remains that ever since he has been in there, he has denounced all the insecurity activities that were imported into the South East just to make that place uncomfortable and any little thing will be tagged to IPOB. When the prison was attacked they said it was IPOB. We came first to say no because all the names involved in the activity at that time were not from that part of the country. So what happened? They had to start recruiting locals, urchins; people without education, without skill. They are now the ones doing the operations for them. And Nnamdi Kanu has said severally in court that he has no hand in it; on Mondays in the East there is no activity”, Nwanyanwu said.

Noting that the time had come for President Tinubu to use his political sagacity and dexterity to release Kanu, the Zenith Labour Party boss said:

“We are calling for the President to release him but if you don’t want to release him, bring him to Eagle Square, let’s use him for barbecue and let his enemies eat from it so we can close his chapter. There is no reason why Nnamdi Kanu should still be in prison or in detention.

In recent times, leading Nigerians including Peter Obi, presidential candidate of Labour Party in the 2023 election called for the release of the detained IPOB Chief.

Fielding questions from reporters in Onitsha, Anambra State on June 30, Obi said there was no justification to keep holding Kanu captive.

“I don’t see any reason for his continuous detention, especially as the courts have granted him bail. The government must obey the court, Obi said.

The Labour Party presidential candidate, who was also a two-term Governor of Anambra State, said the rule of law is an intricate asset, which Nigerians must cherish and live with.

Obi’s intervention came days before a similar call by the South-East caucus of the House of Representatives. In a statement signed by all members of the 43-man strong caucus, the lawmakers urged President Tinubu to free the incarcerated leader of IPOB. The statement by the lawmakers read in part:

“As a caucus of the House of Representatives from where Mazi Nnamdi Kanu hails, we have taken liberty in consonance with parliamentary practice, to seek the support of other regional caucuses of the House of Representatives to achieve a quick and responsible resolution of the seemingly intractable Mazi Nnamdi Kanu case, a legal impasse that is undoubtedly the missing puzzle in solving the lingering security conundrum in the South East of Nigeria.

“We, therefore,as representatives of the five South East states in the House of Representatives, urge Mr. President to consider the release of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu and his other similarly detained followers. We are convinced that a political settlement, as canvassed before Justice Binta Nyako, is the most effective way and honourable way of closing this difficult and painful chapter of our national history “.