Once again, HURIWA requests that Kanu be released as a Christmas present to the S’East
As a Christmas present for the South East in 2022, the Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) requested President Muhammadu Buhari to release Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra.
In a statement from its National Coordinator, Emmanuel Onwubiko, HURIWA urged the president to live up to his promises by letting Kanu’s destiny be decided by the court without intervention from politics.
The organization urged Buhari to instruct Abubakar Malami, the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, to follow the Appellate Court’s ruling that ordered Kanu’s release from the Department of State Services (DSS) detention before Christmas.
According to HURIWA, Kanu’s release will bring the South East region’s peace, stability, and economic prosperity back.
The organization lamented the South East governors’ carefree attitude, saying that they need should be exerting more pressure on Buhari to act morally by freeing Kanu from prison.
Recall that in May, at a meeting with the Ebonyi State Stakeholders’ Forum at the Government House in Abakaliki, Buhari said that finding a political solution to Kanu’s problems was impossible and emphasized that only the court would determine the future of the activist.
“I have attentively listened to pleas from elders to traditional leaders, considering a broad variety of choices,” Buhari had said. “As I have already stated, this case remains in the full jurisdiction of the court where it will be appropriately adjudicated.”
The IPOB leader has been held at the DSS facility in Abuja for nearly 18 months now, despite the Appeal Court’s decision to liberate him and award billions of naira in damages to the Federal Government for Kanu’s extraordinary rendition from Kenya in mid-2021.
The leading presidential candidates for the 2023 general elections, including Peter Obi of the Labour Party (LP), Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC), and Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), have stated that they will look into dialogue to put an end to secessionist agitations in the South East and revive the Igbo people’s economy, which has been damaged by untold violence and the actions of unknown gunmen.
