The Igbo apex socio-political organisation, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, has appealed to President Muhammadu Buhari to consider releasing and meeting the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu.
The Secretary-General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide, Okechukwu Isiguzoro, said Buhari should see the request in line with Kanu’s letter requesting a political solution from the president.
It would be recalled recently that Kanu urged Buhari to release him unconditionally from detention and drop all charges against him.
Following his rearrest in June of last year, the IPOB leader has since been detained in the custody of the Department of State Services, (DSS), and he is facing charges bordering on treasonable felony and terrorism at the Federal High Court, Abuja.
The Nigerian Government had extraordinarily renditioned Kanu from Kenya in 2021.
Meanwhile, Isiguzoro said Buhari’s meeting with Kanu after the release would end the sit-at-home order affecting the economic situation.
“Now that Nnamdi Kanu is the one writing Buhari himself seeking a political solution, I think the federal government, as a matter of national interest and security, should cash in on this opportunity and dialogue with Biafran agitators,” he added.
He continued that if the federal government sees it as a national interest of general importance, they should first grant presidential pardon to all those ready to dialogue with them, including Yoruba agitators and Northern agitators or those who pick up arms against the government.
The Ohanaeze’s secretary-general noted that Federal Government should grant his request from his lawyers and his case should be discontinued.
According to him, the move would allow the government access to two vital ingredients that would help to stop the further sit-at-homes that have paralysed the economic activities in the old Eastern region, comprising eleven states.
Isiguzoro stated that “now he has accepted and is remorseful and is ready to speak with the Federal Government. They should not allow this opportunity to pass by.”
Describing the release of Kanu and about 400 people incarcerated in prison in facilities across the country as the best political solution, he said it would not only save Nigeria from further hurt and referendum, but also from disintegration
This article was originally published on OsunDaily News
