An Igbo pan-global cultural organisation, Ogbako Ndi Igbo Na Uwaniile, has expressed deep concern over the continued detention of the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, Nnamdi Kanu, while appealing to President Bola Tinubu to review his case and take immediate steps to ensure Kanu’s unconditional release.
According to the group, since his arrest in Kenya on June 29, 2021 and imprisoned in the custody of Department of Security Service, DSS, “solely for exercising his fundamental human rights, Kanu has been unjustly deprived of his liberty through long detention.”
This, the group argued, was even as Mazi Kanu, whom they described as a prisoner of conscience, “has demonstrated no threat to public safety and has not engaged in any acts of violence. His arrest and imprisonment violate both international human rights standards and the principles that no one should be punished for peacefully expressing their views.”
In a release signed by Chief Lord Okey Igbokwe, Media and Public Relations Adviser, Ogbako Ndi-Igbo na Uwaniile, the group also posited that keeping Kanu in solitary confinement is one of the reasons for the insecurity presently ravaging the South-East zone of the country.
The group argued that the unfortunate development has given room for hoodlums and non-state actors to cause mayhem, thereby undermining the economic development of the region and the nation.
According to the statement: “Ogbako Ndi Igbo will also want President Tinubu to consider the fact that in October 2022, Nigeria’s Appeal Court dropped all charges against Kanu and used that as a basis to order for his immediate release.” And in doing this, the group said the president would have demonstrated that what is good for the goose is also good for the gander.
