The youth wing of apex Igbo socio-cultural organisation, Ohanaeze Ndigbo Youth Council Worldwide has urged the Federal Government to release Mazi Nnamdi Kanu and restore peace in the South-East.
Kanu, leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, while answering questions from journalists on Tuesday, said he would end insecurity in the South-East within two minutes of his release from detention. He spoke after being denied bail by Justice Binta Nyako of the Federal High Court.
However, in a statement made available to journalists on Wednesday, the National President of the Ohanaeze youth wing, Mazi Okwu Nnabuike appealed to President Bola Tinubu government to leverage on Kanu’s assertion and restore normalcy in the South-East.
Okwu, who said Kanu’s continuous detention was not doing the country any good, noted that “it was in the overall interest of Nigeria’s security that he should be granted bail and allowed to attend his trial from home.
“Nigeria has been contending with all manners of insecurity from different quarters for years now, even before President Tinubu came on board, but any non-kinetic approach that would bring about peace should be speedily embraced by the government.
“We have no doubt that Mazi Nnamdi Kanu has the capacity to call those behind the insecurity in the South-East region to order.
“Our appeal to Mr President is that he should not behave like former president, Muhammadu Buhari who acted in a manner that made him look like he was happy with the carnage going on in the South-East.”
The Ohanaeze youth president appealed to President Tinubu not to listen to those who may advise him against releasing Kanu, stressing that “those calibre of people do not mean well for the president and his government.
“Their interest is to make every part of the country continuously unsafe, thereby derailing the government’s renewed hope agenda.”
By Emmanuel Ugwuez
