President of Igbo Community in Ogun State, Ernest Mbah, on Thursday, appealed to President Bola Tinubu to release the Leader of Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, from prison in order to calm the uprising in the South East region of the country.
Recalled that Kanu, who was repatriated from Kenya, was sentenced to life imprisonment over terrorism charges.
However, Mbah, speaking in an interview in Abeokuta, stated that Kanu’s continued detention would further intensify agitations in the region, expressing concern over the increasing deployment of security forces to the southeast to maintain peace and order.
He urged Tinubu to intervene and persuade the presidency to grant the IPOB leader a hearing, emphasising that until the federal government engages in dialogue with Kanu and ensures his release from prison, unrest in the region would persist.
The president said that both Kanu and the Yoruba nation agitator, Sunday Igboho, were on the same page, agitating for a separate nation, before Igboho was later released, after which the president wondered why Kanu was still in prison, stressing that releasing the IPOB leader from detention would give the southeast a sense of belonging to the Nigerian state.
He said, “What I am trying to say is that Nnamdi Kanu should be released. President Bola Tinubu is our father. When a child is crying for something in your house, you don’t just put him behind bars. You listen, hear him, and come to conclusions. I may not go your way, but let’s go this way. What I am trying to say is that he, as the president of Nigeria, should find a way to release Nnamdi Kanu. Let him go and meet his family.
“He may have seen how his people have been marginalised. If Nnamdi Kanu is released today, the uprising and the tension will go down. We all know that. He is someone our people love, and once he is free, everything will calm down.
“His release will make the region feel part of the Nigerian state, because as it stands, it seems we are not inclusive because of Nnamdi Kanu’s continued detention. Even though we know that the likes of Sunday Igboho agitated for the same thing, he is free, so we look at his own case as different. But releasing him will bring that synergy between the region and the Nigerian State.
“Nnamdi Kanu is our brother, and he is agitating for the emancipation of Biafra. Of course, you should know that in Nigeria, if not for marginalisation, there would be no need for that. The man saw how his people had been marginalised, and that is the main purpose of the agitation. There is no place in Nigeria where security forces are deployed in other regions the way they are deployed in our region.
“The advice I will give to our people is that there is room for appeal, even though the president has the final say. It is okay. I am pardoning this guy. Let him go, but there is room for appeal. I will only say that our people should calm down and watch how the event unfolds. I believe that through the appeal they may get the judgment they want,” he added.
Also, notable people from the South East, including socialite and businessman Pascal Okechukwu, popularly known as Cubana Chief Priest, and traditional ruler Eze Ogbunechendo of Ezema Olo Kingdom, have appealed to Tinubu to release Kanu, insisting that his continued detention would further fuel agitations in the region.
