By Yusuf Boluwatife
President Muhammadu Buhari has declared that the leader of proscribed separatist group, Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu won’t be released.
Buhari made this known in an interview aired on Channels Television on Wednesday evening.
The president stated that Kanu — who is currently in the custody of the DSS — should be made to account for peddling rumours about his administration while in Europe.
Commenting on the possibility of Kanu’s release, Buhari said, “There is one institution that I wouldn’t interfere with, that is the judiciary, Kanu’s case is with the judiciary but what I wonder is when Kanu was safely in Europe, abusing this administration and mentioning too many things, I thought he wants to come and defend himself on the accusations.
“So, we are giving him an opportunity to defend himself in our system, not to be abusing us from Europe as if he was not a Nigerian. Let him come here with us and then criticise us here. Nigerians know that I don’t interfere with the judiciary, let him be listened to. But those who are saying that he should be released, no, we cannot release him.”
When asked about the chances of a political solution to the case, the president noted, “There is a possibility of political solution. If people behave themselves, all well and good but you can’t go to a foreign country and keep on sending incorrect economic and security problems (sic) against our country and thinking that you would not account for what you have been doing. Let him (Kanu) account for what he has been doing.”
The president’s comments come months after some respected Igbo Elders led by Minister of Aviation in the First Republic, Chief Mbazulike Amaechi, visited him in Aso Rock on November 19, 2021, requesting for the unconditional release of the detained IPOB leader.
Buhari had told them that he would not want to interfere in the running of the judiciary but promised he would consider their request though “a heavy one.”
