Abia State Governor, Alex Otti, has assured that detained leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, will soon regain his freedom.
By Emma Ogbuehi
Abia State Governor, Alex Otti, has assured that detained leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, will soon regain his freedom.
The governor who made the declaration on Friday, disclosed that he has been engaging President Bola Tinubu on the matter. “I can assure you that I am engaging with Mr President. He is favourably disposed to it, and I am sure that in no distant future, Nnamdi Kanu will regain his freedom,” he said.
President Tinubu was represented on the one-day visit to the state, by Minister of Works, David Umahi.
Kanu has been in the custody of the Department of State Services (DSS) since his extradition from Kenya in June 2021. Otti, who described his decades-long friendship with Tinubu, expressed confidence that the President would keep his word.
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“Mr President and I have been friends for decades. Whatever he wants to do, he will tell you, and if he will not, he will say so. Having made promises, I am sure he will keep them.”
Representing Tinubu, Umahi urged residents of the South-East to remain united and peaceful.
“I ask the people of the south-east to unite and come together. As your brother, I have listened to the messages for Mr. President and the comments of the governor of Abia state,” he said.
“I want to assure Senator Abaribe and Governor Otti that the southeast governors are working very seriously. They are exploring a political solution together with our senators, House of Representatives members, and ministers. I am confident that with the love of the president for the south-east, a peaceful resolution will come to pass.
“But we must remain law-abiding and appreciative and recognise that this president has placed the south-east at the centre of national activities”, Umahi stated.
Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe, who represents Abia South in the Natinal Assembly, had in his speech at the occasion, urged Tinubu to effect the release of Kanu as a strategic step towards restoring peace in the South East. His demand was in line with earlier position by prominent South East leaders and apex Igbo socio-cultural organisation, Ohanaeze Ndigbo.
Since the IPOB leaders detention, his supporters have been embarking on measures that have disturbing normal life and economic activities in the South East. Among these activities is the weekly Monday sit-at-home, which IPOB operatives initially ordered as means to express their anger at Kanu’s detention. The exercise has cost the region losses that are estimated at billions of Naira and death of some indigenes in the hands of the enforcers. Even when Kanu and IPOB have distanced themselves from the sit-at-home order, overzealous members of the group and criminals masquerading as enforcers, have used the exercise as reasons to wreak havoc on the people.
