Senators from the South-East geopolitical zones have passionately appealed to President Bola Tinubu on the imperative of releasing the detained leader of proscribed Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB) and Biafran Nation agitator, Nnamldi Kanu.
The Senators numbering 15 and led by a former Abia State Deputy Governor, Senator Eyinanya Abaribe, maintained that unless Kanu is released, the social and economic activities in the region will continue to be stagnant.
The upper chamber legislators held a closed-door meeting on Wednesday with the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Prince Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), where their appeal letter to President Tinubu for Kanu’s release was delivered for onward passage to the President.
Shortly after the meeting, Abaribe who spoke on behalf of his colleagues lamented that the economy and social life in the South-East has continued to suffer due to the continued incarceration of the Biafra Nation agitator.
Abaribe noted with grave concern that the peaceful demand of the detained IPOB leader had been hijacked by hoodlums and criminals, leading to wanton killings of innocent people, including security operatives.
He told newsmen that he had already met with Kanu at the headquarters of the Department of State Services (DSS) in Abuja and he had agreed to abide by any conditional release.
Senator Abaribe expressed optimism that once Kanu is released, the tension and acrimonious engulfing the region since 2021 when he was clamped into the DSS custody would be doused.
The Senators therefore pleaded with the AGF to convey their message to President Tinubu and for the AGF to use his position to terminate all the charges brought against the IPOB leader by the Federal Government.
Besides the Senators, Abaribe said that virtually all political and religious leaders, including stakeholders in the zone have unanimously agreed that Kanu should be released for peace to bounce back to the region.
LEADERSHIP recalls that Kanu was re-arrested in Kenya in 2021 by the Federal Government and brought into the country for trial on terrorism charges.
Although, he pleaded not guilty to the charges, Justice Binta Nyako of the Federal High Court in Abuja has declined to admit him to bail on the ground that he jumped the earlier one in which Senator Abaribe was his surety.
Kanu has since being held in the custody of the DSS on the order of the Federal High Court, Abuja.