The Alaigbo Development Foundation (ADF), a pan-Igbo socio-cultural organisation, has called on President Bola Tinubu to order the release of Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), describing him as a political hostage of the federal government.
In a statement jointly signed by Uzodinma Nwala, chairman of the board of trustees, and Nze Coleman Emeka Chukwudolunzu, president of the organisation, ADF said there was no legal justification for Kanu’s continued detention by the Department of State Services (DSS).
The statement, made available to journalists in Enugu, said the judiciary had in the past ruled in favour of Kanu’s release, but the pronouncements were “ignored and overruled by the DSS, which is directly under the control of the president.”
“We are aware that even the Nigerian judiciary, as lame-duck as they are under the present political circumstances in Nigeria, has on one occasion or the other made certain pronouncements in favour of Nnamdi Kanu’s release.
“Unfortunately, those pronouncements have been ignored and overruled by the Directorate of State Security (DSS), which is directly under the control of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, who is presently your dear self, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu,” ADF said.
The group urged Tinubu to emulate President William Ruto of Kenya, who, it said, had described Kanu’s 2021 rendition from Nairobi to Nigeria as a violation of international law and diplomacy.
ADF recalled that late nationalist Mbazulike Amaechi died while advocating for Kanu’s release, and that several legal luminaries had pursued the case through Nigeria’s courts without success.
“Under a rule-governed society, this matter should have ended long before now. But no! Not in Nigeria,” ADF added.
The foundation questioned why Kanu’s case was being treated differently from that of Sunday Igboho, a Yoruba agitator, or Ibrahim El-Zakzaky, the leader of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN), both of whom have regained their freedom.
ADF also lamented what it described as the “inhuman condition” under which Kanu is being held, saying it is “worse than how animals are treated in civilised countries.”
The group appealed to Tinubu to consider the pleas of Igbo socio-cultural organisations, youth groups, and diaspora associations to free the detained IPOB leader in the interest of peace, justice, and national healing.
