Enugu governor asks Tinubu to release Nnamdi Kanu

Governor Peter Mbah of Enugu State has appealed to President Bola Tinubu to release Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of the outlawed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).

Mr Mbah made the appeal on Thursday, shortly after his first meeting with heads of various security agencies in the state at the Government House, Enugu.

The governor also declared an end to the infamous sit-at-at-home in Enugu, usually enforced by a faction of the IPOB across the South-east region.

“I call on our newly sworn-in president, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, to consciously work towards the release of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu. We believe that his release will expedite the healing process Nigeria needs at this time.

“It will also be a pointer to his administration’s extension of brotherly hands of fellowship to Ndigbo,” he said.

‘No More sit-at-home in Enugu’

IPOB, in August 2021, introduced a sit-at-home order every Monday across the South-east to pressure the Nigerian government to release its detained leader, Mr Kanu, who is standing trial for alleged terrorism at the Federal High Court, Abuja.

The separatist group later suspended the order, in preference for it to be implemented only on days Mr Kanu appears in court.

But despite its suspension, residents of the five South-east states – Enugu, Ebonyi, Imo, Abia and Anambra — have been observing the Monday sit-at-home order, mostly out of fear.

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Speaking on the controversial sit-at-home, Mr Mbah said his administration would resist the continuation of the order in the state from 6 June, pointing out that the civil action was killing the “spirit of entrepreneurship, commerce and creativity” of Igbo people in the state and region.

“The idea behind sitting at home on Monday, the first working and business day of the week, is abominable and antithetical to greatness and the spirit of industry we profess to have inherited from our forebears. This cannot be us. Tufiakwa (God forbid). It does colossal damage to us”, Mr Mbah stated.

The governor said there was a need to free the markets in the state from the “shackles of restriction to commerce” in order to encourage an “influx of private sector practitioners and investors” in the state.

“Therefore, those that strike on Mondays, putting restrictions in the way of our Igbo spirit of creativity, cannot be our true representatives. To this end, therefore, from Monday, June 6, 2023, there will be no observance of any sit-at-home in all nooks and crannies of Enugu State.

“Government will enforce this with all the powers at its disposal. My charge to all of you – market men and women, the corporate world, industries, schools, civil servants, and all strata of workers in Enugu State is for us to take back our sense of industry, pride of place and re-enact our glorious past.

“By heeding this call, you would have set us on the path of actualising our mandate”, he added.

Background

Mr Kanu was first arrested in 2015 under the administration of former Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari.

The IPOB leader was later granted bail in April 2017. He fled the country after an invasion of his home in Afara-Ukwu, near Umuahia, Abia State, by the Nigerian military in September of that year.

He was re-arrested in Kenya and brought back to Nigeria in June 2021, about four years after he fled the country.

The Court of Appeal, Abuja, on 13 October, held that the IPOB leader was extra-ordinarily renditioned to Nigeria and that the action was a flagrant violation of the country’s extradition treaty and a breach of his fundamental human rights.

The court, therefore,  struck out the terrorism charges filed against Mr Kanu by the  Nigerian government and ordered his release from the custody of the State Security Service.

But the government refused to release the IPOB leader, insisting that he (Kanu) could be unavailable in subsequent court proceedings and that his release would cause insecurity in the South-east.

The government, through the office of the Attorney-General of the Federation, later appealed the court ruling and subsequently obtained an order staying the execution of the court judgement at the Supreme Court.

Several Igbo leaders, such as Governor Charles Soludo of Anambra State and President-General of the apex Igbo socio-cultural organisation, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu, had repeatedly asked Mr Buhari, to release the IPOB leader, but the former president refused to grant the request.