By Omoniyi Salaudeen
The pioneer Chairman of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Chief Chekwas Okorie, has appealed to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to release the detained leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, and other prisoners of conscience who have been in incarceration for so long.
Okorie’s appeal is coming on the heels of the recent reassignment of the protracted suit filed by the Federal Government against Kanu on November 23, 2015, to another Judge. While commending the Chief Justice of the Federation, Hon. Justice Kudirat Kekere-Ekun, for her administration intervention that prompted the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court to reassign the case, he urged President Tinubu to seize the opportunity of the moment to facilitate the release of Kanu.
In a statement made available to Sunday Sun, Okorie said: “This window provides President Tinubu the leverage to direct the Attorney General and Minister of Justice to enter a nolle prosequi in the Nnamdi Kanu matter to discharge and acquit him and bring closure to his vexatious incarceration.
“I appreciate that President Tinubu inherited the liability of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu’s unjustified detention, but since the government is a continuum, the onus is on the president to bring this matter to an end.
According to Okorie, releasing Kano will not only help to assuage the Igbo’s feeling of alienation but also give Tinubu political mileage in the Southeast. “Mazi Nnamdi Kanu has become the symbol of the struggle of the Igbo Nation for equity, justice, and fairness. I venture to state unequivocally that the average Igbo person in Nigeria and the diasporans feel the pain of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu’s unjustified continued suffering for simply speaking out for his people. The economic and security stability and freedom of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu will bring to the Southeast geopolitical zone is unquantifiable. President Tinubu may never have imagined the political mileage he would travel by granting Mazi Nnamdi Kanu freedom at this time. He added that I enjoin him to consider this appeal with dispassion and compassion,” he added.