Former President Muhammadu Buhari
Civil rights advocacy group, Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA), on Sunday, tasked President Muhammadu Buhari to free the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, as a 2022 Christmas gift to the South-East geopolitical zone.
HURIWA’s National Coordinator, Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko, in a statement, challenged the president to be a man of his words by leaving the judiciary to decide on Kanu’s fate without any political interference or vendetta. The group asked Buhari to direct the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, to comply with the appellate court’s judgement of freeing Kanu from the Department of State Services (DSS) before Christmas.
HURIWA believes that the release of Kanu would restore peace and stability to the South-East of Nigeria and restore economic growth of the zone. HURIWA expressed disappointment and consternation at the nonchalant attitudes of the governors of the South East of Nigeria towards mounting pressure on President Buhari to free Kanu from detention.
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In May, Buhari, at a meeting with Ebonyi State Stakeholders’ Forum at the Government House in Abakaliki, said a political solution to Kanu’s travails was impossible and insisted that only the court would decide his fate.
“I have listened carefully to the various appeals from the elders to the traditional leaders regarding a wide range of options and as I have said previously, this matter remains in the full purview of the court where it will be properly adjudicated,” Buhari had promised.
However, about 18 months since his unwarranted detention at the DSS custody in Abuja, the IPOB leader has not tasted freedom despite the judgement of the Appeal Court granting him freedom and awarding billions of naira as damages against the Federal Government for his extraordinary rendition from Kenya mid-2021.
At the moment, the major presidential candidates for the 2023 general elections including Labour Party’s Peter Obi, Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress and Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party have opined that they would explore dialogue to end secessionist agitations in the South-East and restore the economy of the Igbo people which has been marred with untold violence and activities of unknown gunmen.
Commenting, HURIWA’s Onwubiko said, “As though a norm, all the major presidential candidates for the 2023 presidential election have adopted negotiated settlement to end agitations by IPOB and other secessionist groups like that of Yoruba Nation agitator, Sunday Adeyemo aka Sunday Igboho.
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