The Coalition of Northern Groups (CNG) has opposed renewed call for the release of Nnamdi Kanu, leader of Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB.
The CNG pokesperson, Abdul-Azeez Suleiman, noted that calls for Kanu’s release by Ndigbo leaders and groups have increased since the conclusion of the 2023 presidential election.
Suleiman said groups such as the Ohanaeze Ndigbo have joined in the “campaign of blackmail” by using Kanu’s release as a precondition for Igbos to cooperate with the administration of president-elect, Bola Tinubu.
The CNG also condemned the renewed calls for the release of Kanu without trial, describing it as insane, unreasonable, unwarranted, thoughtless and unrealistic.
It charged the government to disregard such “unpatriotic” calls by remaining resolute in the total prosecution of Kanu to a logical conclusion in a bid not to set a bad precedent of ethnic leaders tempering with the course of justice.
It further warned the incoming administration on the dangers of paying heed to the antics “aimed at causing mishaps and unnecessary devastation and driving Nigeria over the brink into a catastrophe”.
It added: “Instead, the President should remain resolute in ensuring the diligent prosecution of Kanu, his sponsors, backers and collaborators in the heinous crimes against the Nigerian state and innocent Nigerian citizens.
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“In order to prevent a descent into anarchy at this day and age, and to forestall mass killings, untold sufferings and atrocities, the federal government must not accede to the current pressure by Ohanaeze and its ilk to secure the unconditional release of the leader of a group that has been duly proscribed as terrorist.”
Daily Report Nigeria reports that Nnamdi Kanu was first arrested in 2015 and granted bail in April 2017.
He then fled the country flowing the invasion of his home in Afara-Ukwu, near Umuahia, Abia State, by the Nigerian military in September 2017.
Kanu was re-arrested in Kenya and extradited to Nigeria in June 2021, almost four years after fleeing the country.
