Obasanjo visited as the governors decided to meet President Bola Tinubu to press for the release of Kanu.
By Emma Ogbuehi
The agenda at freeing the detained leader of the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, gained weight on Tuesday, when South East Governors hosted former President Olusegun Obasanjo who paid them a solidarity visit in a move seen to be tailored at securing the release of the activist.
Obasanjo visited as the governors decided to meet President Bola Tinubu to press for the release of Kanu. Others in the delegation with Obasanjo, included, former Commonwealth Secretary General, Chief Emeka Anyaoku and the Onitsha monarch, Igwe Alfred Nnaemeka Achebe.
According to the Chairman of the South East Governors Forum and Governor of Imo state, Senator Hope Uzodinma, “The Forum resolved to visit Mr. President to discuss all pressing issues concerning the South East region. The Forum also deliberated and resolved to interface with the Federal Government to secure the release of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu.”
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The governors also deliberated on the reviewed report of the South East security and economic summit held in Owerri Imo state on the 28 September 2023 and agreed to implement the aspect of the report about security and economic integration of the South East region and affirmed its desire to put actionable plan on the key issues agreed.
The meeting which lasted over seven hours had all the governors in attendance. The governors are Alex Otti of Abia, Hope Uzodimma of Imo, Charles Soludo of Anambra, Francis Nwifuru of Ebonyi State, and the host governor, Peter Mbah.
The Forum also set up a burial committee by Former Senate President, Anyim, Pius Anyim, for the late minister of Science and Technology, Dr Ogbonnaya Onu.
Only recently, 50 members of the House of Representatives from different parts of Nigeria and political parties, known as Concerned Federal Lawmakers for Peace and Security in the South East, wrote to President Bola Tinubu to invoke Section 174 of the Constitution of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended) and Section 107(1) of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, 2015 for the release of the detained IPOB leader.
The lawmakers made this appeal in a three-page letter signed by the lawmakers, dated June 19, 2024, and addressed to the President.
They urged the President to direct the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Prince Lateef Fagbemi SAN, to invoke his powers of nolle prosequi under the provisions of Section 174(1) of the Constitution and Section 107(1) of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act 2015, and cause the release of Kanu from detention and discontinue his trial.
The signatories include Hon Obi Aguocha (Abia), Hon Ikenga Ugochinyere (Imo), Hon. Aliyu Mustapha (Kaduna), Hon Midala Balami (Borno), Hon Afam Ogene (Anambra), Hon. Abiante Awaji-Inombek (Rivers), Hon Dominic Okafor (Anambra), Hon Etanabene Benedict (Delta), Hon. Shehu Dalhatu (Katsina), Hon Chinedu Emeka Martins (Imo), Hon. Matthew Nwogu (Imo), Hon. Muhammed Buba Jagere (Yobe), Hon Peter Aniekwe (Anambra), Hon Koki Sagir (Kano), Hon Amobi Oga (Abia), Hon Gwacham Chinwe (Anambra), Hon Uchenna Okonkwo (Anambra), Hon. Abdulmaleek Danga (Kogi), Hon. Osi Nkemkama (Ebonyi), and others.
The demand by the House of Representatives members aligns with similar plea to the President by the apex Igbo socio-cultural organisation, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, presidential candidate of the Labour Party, LP, in the 2023 election, Peter Obi and other well-meaning Nigerians. Apart from Kanu, Obi, former Anambra state governor, called for the release of other detainees with similar cases.
