•Northern group urges President to disregard calls
House of Representatives member, Chris Nkwonta, representing Ukwa East and West Federal Constituency of Abia State, has appealed to President Bola Tinubu to release the leader of Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, from detention for the sake of peace in the South East.
The lawmaker, who was among 70 members of House of Representatives that accompanied the Speaker, Tajudeen Abbas, on his first visit to his Zaria Constituency, Kaduna State, since his emergence as Speaker, made the appeal for Kanu’s release when asked about possible solution to insecurity in the South East.
He said: “Recall that I had said we need peace. Without peace no country can develop. The issue of Kanu is still in court. It is an issue every Southeasterner is concerned about.
“If Kanu is released, I can assure you that insecurity and violence in the region would be reduced, if not completely eliminated.
“When most of us are going home, we move with about nine policemen. The question is, what about those who can’t afford that?”
MEANWHILE, officials of the Coalition of Northern Groups (CNG) have asked the Federal Government to disregard renewed calls for Kanu’s release. The CNG’s spokesman, Alhaji Abdul-Azeez Sulaiman, said this has become necessary due to renewed attacks and sit-at-home practice in the region.
He said: “CNG has carefully watched and studied events, as well as actions perpetrated against the Nigerian state and northerners, in particular, with considerable restraint and maturity.
“With recent enforcement of a week-long illegal sit-at-home order, which mostly affected minorities living in Southeastern communities, and the resolve by Igbo leaders to secure unconditional release of the IPOB leader, matters have reached a point where silence has become complicity and inaction no longer an option.”
The coalition, therefore, advised the Federal Government to resist what it described as “Igbo campaign of blackmail, using Kanu’s release as a precondition for lasting peace in Nigeria.”
The group urged Tinubu to remain steadfast in Kanu’s prosecution, along with his sponsors and collaborators, so as not to set the wrong precedent of regional leaders obstructing the course of justice.
