Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe, representing Abia South, has expressed his readiness to stand as a guarantor for Nnamdi Kanu, the detained leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).
Speaking to journalists after meeting with Governor Alex Otti in Enugu, Abaribe called on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to heed the advice of Attorney General of the Federation, Lateef Fagbemi, and other stakeholders advocating for Kanu’s release.
Abaribe argued that releasing Kanu would help address the rising criminal activities and instability in the Southeast, including the insurgency, the notorious sit-at-home orders, and other acts of violence.
“I expect that the President will listen to both his Attorney General and every one of us who have been agitating that the issues in the Southeast—first of all the insurgency, the sit-at-home on Mondays, and every other thing we have noticed in the Southeast—what we now know in the Southeast is that criminals and all other people who advocate violence have taken over and [are] using the name Nnamdi Kanu to perpetuate all these their despicable acts,” Abaribe said.
He described President Tinubu as a “listening President” and urged him to address the situation by releasing Kanu, whom he believes is critical to restoring peace and economic productivity in the Southeast.
“We know that the President, being a listening President, will also look at all the issues involved which we have presented to him from various mediums and that he will do the needful and release Nnamdi Kanu so that it will put a stop to all these things that are happening in the Southeast and bring back the Southeast as the hub of production in Nigeria,” he added.
Abaribe emphasized that the continued detention of Kanu has created a vacuum that criminals, kidnappers, and other dangerous elements have exploited, using Kanu’s name to justify their actions.
“So he needs Nnamdi Kanu out so that all those things that are holding us down in the Southeast, that have made us not produce as much as we ought to produce, will not be there,” he said.
“We continue to call on President Tinubu to release Nnamdi Kanu and we are ready and willing to be guarantors for him to be released so that we can have life coming back into the Southeast and take it away from the criminals, kidnappers, the cultists, and dangerous elements that are floating around us who have made it a point that they would perpetrate violence, do criminal activities, and use Nnamdi Kanu’s name as their reason.”
Kanu has been in detention since June 2021, following his extraordinary rendition from Kenya to Nigeria. While the Appeal Court in Abuja ordered his release, the Nigerian government has refused to comply, keeping him in custody despite growing calls for his freedom.
