Senators from the South East region of Nigeria on Wednesday, pleaded passionately with President Bola Tinubu to order the release of the detained Biafra Nation agitator, Nnamdi Kanu.
The Senators numbering 15 and led by a former Abia state deputy Governor, Senator Eyinanya Abaribe claimed that unless Kanu is released, the social and economic activities in the SouthEast region will continue to be stagnant.
The Senators held a closed-door meeting with the Attorney General of the Federation (AFG) and Minister of Justice, Prince Lateef Fagbemi (SAN) where they appealed to the latter to beg Tinubu to release Kanu.
Addressing Judiciary Correspondents immediately after the meeting, Abaribe who spoke on behalf of his colleagues lamented that the economy and social life in the South East had suffered enough due to the continued incarceration of the Biafra Nation Agitator.
Abaribe noted with grave concern that the peaceful demand of the detained IPOB leader had been hijacked by hoodlums and criminals leading to wanton killings of innocent people, including security operatives.
The former Abia state deputy Governor told newsmen that he had already met with Kanu at the headquarters of the Department of State Services (DSS) in Abuja and had agreed to abide by any conditional release.
Senator Abaribe expressed optimism that once Kanu is released, the tension and acrimonious engulfing the SouthEast region since 2021 when he clamped into DSS custody would become an event of the past.
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The Senators pleaded with the AGF to convey their message to President Tinubu and for the AGF to use his position to terminate all the charges brought against the IPOB leader by the Federal Government.
Besides the Senators, Abaribe said that virtually all political leaders, religious leaders and stakeholders have unanimously agreed that Kanu be released for peace to bounce back to the region.
Kanu was re-arrested in Kenya in 2021 by the Federal Government and returned to Nigeria for trial on terrorism charges.
Although he pleaded not guilty to the charges, Justice Binta Nyako of the Federal High Court in Abuja declined to admit him to bail on the ground that he jumped the earlier one in which Senator Abaribe was his surety.
Kanu has since been in the custody of the DSS on the order of the Federal High Court, Abuja.
