Nigeria’s Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu, has declared that President Bola Tinubu will release the detained leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Mazi Nnamdi Kanu.
This announcement was made during the 13th memorial anniversary of the late Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu in Owerri on Tuesday.
“President Tinubu understands the importance of Kanu’s release. It will expose the masqueraders behind the violence and help restore order. I will do whatever it takes to ensure His Excellency grants this request,” she stated.
According to Ambassador Ojukwu, President Tinubu understands the importance of Kanu’s release, which would expose criminal elements hiding under IPOB to wreak havoc in the Southeast. She said that the Igbo people are not known for harming their own and called for collective action to reclaim the region from criminality and insecurity.
“The release of Nnamdi Kanu is paramount to separating genuine freedom fighters from criminals causing mayhem in the Southeast,” Ojukwu said. “Our people face existential threats, and we must act to restore peace.”
She also decried the imposition of violent “sit-at-home” orders in the Southeast, which she said contradict the ideals of self-determination and have stifled economic activities in the region.
She said, “Ndigbo are enterprising and their brother’s keepers. We must reclaim our land and continue to propagate the ideals for which Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu stood.”
Nnamdi Kanu has been incarcerated since June 2015, when he was arrested by the Department of State Services (DSS) in Lagos. He was subsequently charged with treason, terrorism, and other offences. Despite being granted bail on several occasions, Kanu has remained in detention.