Governor Chukwuma Soludo of Anambra State has again called for the release of the incarcerated leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, saying such will engender sustainable development and guarantee security in the South-East region.
Soludo noted that if outgoing president, Muhammadu Buhari eventually failed to heed the request of many Nigerians and stakeholders on releasing Kanu, he (Soludo) would shift his attention to the incoming government of Bola Tinubu to grant the request.
SaharaReporters had reported that IPOB leader was abducted in Kenyan and extraordinarily renditioned to Nigeria against international and national laws in June 2021 to face treasonable felony charges in court.
Since then he has remained in solitary confinement at the headquarters of the Department of the State Services (DSS), despite several court judgements and United Nations Human Rights Commission on arbitrary detention that ordered his release and adequate reparations paid to him.
Also South-East leaders including the apex Igbo socio-cultural organisation Ohanaeze Ndigbo have consistently called on the outgoing President Muhammadu Buhari to release Kanu to them and adopt dialogue but to no avail.
SaharaReporters had reported on Friday that the Anambra Governor wrote President Buhari to release Kanu before he leaves office.
But featuring on Channels TV programme on Friday, Soludo said that if Buhari eventually failed release the IPOB leader, he (Soludo) would shift attention to the incoming government of Bola Tinubu.
The governor, whose state, Anambra, is one of the sit-at-home protest venues against the continued incarceration of Kanu, said the economy had been badly affected.
According to him, the April 20 letter was also copied to the “President-elect”, Bola Tinubu.
Soludo said, “This is a cause that one believes in. Consistently I am an advocate of the rule of law and justice for all and therefore if you look at that letter, that letter is copied to the “President-elect” Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu and I want to also believe that a copy has been delivered to his office as it were.
“The Attorney General is also copied in this letter and if President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration fails to take advantage of this opportunity to really rise above every other thing and be a statesman as it were, if the president fails to take advantage of that, we will be pursuing the same thing with the incoming administration.”
Soludo believed that if Kanu was out, he would be able to tell who his real people were and rein in them and the criminals would be isolated.