Senators from the South-East region of the country on Wednesday, pleaded with President Bola Tinubu to order the release of the detained leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu.
The Senators, numbering 15 and led by a former deputy Governor of Abia state, Senator Enyinanya Abaribe, claimed that unless Kanu is released, the social and economic activities in the South-East region will continue to be stagnant.
The Senators held a closed door meeting with the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Prince Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), where their letter begging Tinubu to release Kanu was delivered for onward passage to President Tinubu.
Addressing Judiciary Correspondents immediately after the closed-door meeting, Abaribe who spoke on behalf of his colleagues, lamented that the economy and social life in the Sout- East region had suffered enough 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.
The former Abia state deputy Governor told newsmen that he had already met with Kanu at the headquarters of the Department of State Services (DSS) in Abuja and had agreed to abide by any conditional release.
Senator Abaribe expressed optimism that once Kanu is released from detention, the tension in the South-East region since 2021 when he was clamped into DSS custody would become a thing of the past.
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, virtually all political leaders, religious leaders and stakeholders have unanimously agreed that Kanu be released for peace to bounce back to the region.
It would be recalled that Kanu was re-arrested in Kenya in 2021 by the Federal Government and brought to the country for trial on charges bordering on terrorism before a Federal High Court in Abuja.
Although he pleaded not guilty to the charges, the trial Judge, Justice Binta Nyako, 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 been in the custody of the DSS on the order of the Court.
. TheWitness
