Don’t release Kanu to Soludo – Lawyer tells FG

Ifeanyi Ejiofor, one of the lawyers to the leader of the proscribed group, the Indigenous People of Biafra, Nnamdi Kanu, has urged the Federal Government to release the embattled Igbo secessionist agitator to the Nigerian people.

Ejiofor’s call comes amidst an appeal by the Anambra State Governor, Chukwuma Soludo, that Kanu should be released immediately and unconditionally, or alternatively, the Federal Government should allow him to stand as surety for the IPOB leader.

The Federal Government has continued to keep the IPOB leader in detention since he was repatriated to Nigeria from Kenya in 2021, despite the judgment of an Appeal Court on October 13, 2022, that he should be freed.

In a renewed effort to secure the IPOB leader’s release, Soludo during an All Progressives Grand Alliance rally in Awka recently begged the Federal Government to free Kanu for peace to reign in the South-East region.

Soludo’s words, “I am making a passionate appeal to the Federal Government to release Mazi Nnamdi Kanu unconditionally. If he cannot be released unconditionally, I want him released to me and I will stand surety for him.

“We need Nnamdi Kanu in the roundtable conversation to discuss the insecurity in the South-East. We must end insecurity in the South-East and we need Nnamdi Kanu to be around.”

Reacto, the lawyer said even though the governor’s call for Kanu’s unconditional release was in line with the court judgment of October 13, Soludo’s statement was simply for ‘campaign purposes’.

He also expressed his surprise that the governor’s call for Kanu’s release came on the day his party’s campaign began in Awka.

Ejiofor said, “We welcome Soludo’s call for Nnamdi Kanu’s unconditional release. It is in line with the judgment of the Court of Appeal, which had directed, since October 13, 2022, his unconditional release.

“That is the extant order of the court – that he should be released unconditionally and be allowed to go a free man. He is illegally held in the custody of the Department of States Services.

“We need to clarify that the issue of asking the Federal Government to grant him the request to be a surety to Kanu does not arise because we have gone beyond that level; even the amended charge filed against Kanu has been quashed. As such, there is no charge pending against him as of today in any court.

“So, the issue of releasing Kanu to Soludo does not arise. He has been freed, discharged and acquitted. We should be talking of asking the government to obey the order of the court, which directed for his unconditional release.

“He has been there since October 13, 2022, but he said nothing. Nobody has called on the Federal Government to comply with the court order since then. Of course, everybody knows this is a political statement.

“Kanu is illegally detained as it stands today. What we want the FG to do now is to comply with the court order.”