IPAN urges FG to apply diplomacy in Kanu’s case

Group demands IPOB leader’s release, says arrest illegal

Igbos for a Progressive Nigeria (IPAN) has called on Federal Government to apply diplomacy in the case of Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) leader, Nnamdi Kanu.

National President of the socio-cultural organisation, Lawrence Onuzulike, said that Kanu should be given fair trial. This is as a socio-political group, Igbo National Movement (INM), described the re-arrest and trial of Kanu as illegal and ethnic-driven while demanding his immediate release.

Onuzulike, in a statement yesterday, sued for peace and charged Igbo leaders to promote activities that would champion Igbo cause.

According to him, although Nigeria is faced with various security issues, Igbo people demand unity and a progressive Nigeria. He added that the nation’s security problems call for urgent intervention by the Federal Government, stressing that peace across the nation would encourage safety, progress and development.

“Although IPAN disagrees with the approach of Nnamdi Kanu and some demands of IPOB, we urge caution in his trial. He should be given fair hearing.

“While we do not yet know what transpired and the situation or charges brought against Kanu, we join the rest of Nigeria in calling for a fair trial,” he stated.

IN the same vein, INM demanded Kanu’s immediate release and urged the Federal Government to handle his case with caution, civility and constitutionally.

The group made this known in a statement signed by its Executive Director, Anthony Okolo, and three others.

It accused the President Muhammadu Buhari-led government of breaching Kanu’s fundamental human rights following his alleged abduction and repatriation from Kenya to Nigeria.

“The Igbo National Movement has followed the events of the past week in Nigerian affairs and noted that the country has continued to slide into a quagmire, both within and without, in its international relations. The government is quickly turning the federation into a pariah state, known only for lawlessness and corruption.

“The Nigerian federation is supposed to operate and be governed as a democratic state rooted in constitutionalism and the rule of law. It, therefore, cannot be unmindful of how negatively it is being perceived by participating in the unlawful abduction of a British citizen without recourse to legal avenues to which extradition is purposed,” it stated.