Nigerian senators of the Southeast extraction Wednesday met with the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), to plead with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, for the release of leader of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu.
They also said Knau, currently facing trial for treason and related charges, is prepared to abide by any conditions for his freedom.
Speaking to journalists after a closed-door meeting with the AGF, the 15 lawmakers, led by the lawmaker representing Abia South, Senator Eyinnaya Abaribe, lamented the sit-at-home order and the attendant killings in the Southeast region.
They said the economy and social life in the region had been crippled owing to continuous attacks by the hoodlums perpetrating the acts in the name of Kanu’s continued incarceration.
Abaribe said: “These are the South East Senate caucus, we are here to see the minister of Justice and Attorney-General of the Federation on an important matter to the people of the South East concerning Mazi Nnamdi Kanu and his incarceration.
“The South East Senate caucus just like the rest of the people in the South East, the business leaders, the clergy, the political people, and the rest of the people in the South East are all very worried about it knowing the fulcrum of what is happening in the South East regarding the insecurity.
“All the criminals and people going around causing mayhem in the South East have all said that it is because Mazi Nnamdi Kanu is being held. We know that this is not the truth, it’s just that we have gotten to the point where people are now hijacking a legitimate call for his release and turning it into something that has led to deaths and destruction of properties and so many other indescribable mayhems that is happening in the southeast.
“So we came to meet with the Attorney-General because we know that at the end of the day, everything that happens in the legal system will eventually come to his office, so we came to appeal to him to let Mr President know that all leaders of the South East feel that the release of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu will help in dousing all the tension on everything that is going on in the South East and we are very certain that his duty as the Attorney-General also gives him the powers to not only prosecute but make sure that litigation doesn’t continue and the sufferings of the people does not continue.”
The lawmaker said he, on behalf of the caucus, met with Kanu at the headquarters of the Department of State Service Monday, during which according to him, the IPOB leader agreed to abide by the terms of any conditional release granted him.
…Govs to parley Tinubu
The meeting between the lawmakers and the AGF came on the heel of the resolve of governors from the region to also meet with President Tinubu to beg for Kanu’s freedom.
The five governors in the region, under the aegis of the South East Governors’ Forum (SEGF), met Tuesday for about six hours in Enugu, Enugu state.
The governors are Peter Mbah (Enugu); Alex Otti (Abia); Prof Charles Soludo (Anambra); Francis Nwifuru (Ebonyi) and Senator Hope Uzodimma (Imo).
In a five-point communique jointly signed by all the governors, the forum “resolved to visit Mr. President to discuss pressing issues concerning the South-East region.
“The Forum also resolved to interface with the Federal Government to secure the release of Mr. Nnamdi Kanu.”
The meeting also expressed grief over the death of a former Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation and the first civilian governor of Abia state, Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu.
About 50 members of the House of Representatives from various parts of the country had also urged President Tinubu to free the detained IPOB leader.
The representatives, who identified themselves as “Concerned Federal Lawmakers for Peace and Security in the South East”, prayed President Tinubu to direct the AGF to invoke Section 174 of the 1999 Constitution, as amended, to terminate the terrorism-related charge that is pending against Kanu before the Abuja Division of the Federal High Court.
…Dateline on Kanu’s travails
It will be recalled that Kanu was first arrested in Lagos on October 14, 2015, upon his return to the country from the United Kingdom.
Trial Justice Binta Nyako had on April 25, 2017, granted him bail on health ground, after he had spent about 18 months in detention.
Upon the perfection of the bail conditions, he was on April 28, 2017, released from the Kuje prison.
However, midway into the trial, the IPOB leader escaped from the country after soldiers reportedly invaded his country home at Afara Ukwu Ibeku in Umuahia, Abia state, an operation that allegedly led to the death of some of his followers.
Senator Abaribe, who initially stood as his surety, alongside two others, subsequently applied to the court to be allowed to withdraw from the case.
Not satisfied with Abaribe’s claim that he was not aware of the whereabouts of the defendant, the trial court ordered him to forfeit the N100million he deposited as bond to secure Kanu’s bail.
Meanwhile, Kanu was later re-arrested in Kenya on June 19, 2021 and extraordinarily renditioned back to the country by security agents on June 27, 2021.
Following the development, the trial court, on June 29, 2021, remanded him in custody of DSS, where he has remained till date.
On April 8, 2022, the court struck out eight out of the 15-count charge that the federal government preferred against him on the premise that they lacked substance.
Likewise, the Abuja Division of the Court of Appeal, on October 13, 2022, ordered Kanu’s immediate release from detention even as it quashed the charge against him.
Dissatisfied with the decision, the federal government took the matter before the Supreme Court, even as it persuaded the appellate court to suspend the execution of the judgement, pending the determination of its appeal.
While deciding the appeal, the Supreme Court, on December 15, 2023, vacated the judgement of the appellate court and gave the federal government the nod to try the IPOB leader on the subsisting seven-count charge.
…I didn’t discuss release with governors – Obasanjo
Meanwhile, former President Olusegun Obasanjo has clarified that the issue around the call for Kanu’s release never featured Tuesday in his discussion with the Southeast governors in Enugu.
While admitting that himself and a former Secretary General of the Commonwealth, Chief Emeka Anyaoku, met with the governors to discuss regional development issues, he said nothing about the IPOB leader was discussed.
In a statement Wednesday by his Special Assistant on Media, Kehinde Akinyemi, the ex-president said: “The regional development issues discussed include that of security and infrastructure. Others were economic and cooperative/collaboration, which was meant to complement the national economic development agenda.
“The meeting with them was at my invitation and of Chief Emeka Anyaoku before their summit begins. The issue of Nnamdi Kanu was not on the agenda and was not discussed in my presence.”