Help Us Release Nnamdi Kanu –Abia Rep Obi Aguocha, Begs Buhari
The lawmaker representing Ikwuano/Umuahia North/Umuahia South Federal Constituency, Abia State, Mr Obi Aguocha, has pleaded with former President, Muhammadu Buhari to intervene and secure the release of the detained leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, Mr Nnamdi Kanu.
He made the plea on Sunday in a statement made available to THE WHISTLER when he visited the former president in his Daura country home of Katsina State.
He said his effort is to apply a political solution to what has become a stalemate.
He sought the ex-president’s intervention despite being responsible for Kanu’s arrest and detention.
Kanu was first arrested and granted bail in 2017 during the administration of Buhari for treasonous offence.
He escaped from his Abia home afterwards when the security forces stormed his home to rearrest him for allegedly violating his bail conditions.
The raid allegedly led to several killings of Kanu’s family members but the IPOB leader himself escaped to Kenya, where he was arrested and repatriated to Nigeria in July 2021 when Buhari was two years into his second term.
The administration refused to grant him bail and all political efforts to free the IPOB leader failed.
The Buhari government handed over the case to the Bola Tinubu administration. The new administration is under pressure for a political settlement.
However, a statement issued on Sunday by Aguocha’s media team quoted the federal lawmaker as telling the former president that, “For the missteps, utterances, and ill-gestures of the past, especially on the part of my constituent and brother, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, I am deeply sorry.”
Aguocha further expressed his belief that a political resolution would not only address the grievances of parties on all sides but promote greater understanding and unity within the country.
The statement also quoted the former President as commending the lawmaker for his humility and dedication to the cause of his people and assuring him that his approach was welcomed.
THE WHISTLER reports that Aguocha recently led 50 members of the House of Representatives drawn from across the six geo-political zones to sign a letter of appeal to President Bola Tinubu, to immediately direct the Attorney General and Minister of Justice of the Federation, Lateef Fegbemi, to invoke section 174(1)(c) of the 1999 constitution of the Federal Republic as amended and section 107 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, 2015, in setting the pathway to reaching the desired outcome.
“This meeting (with Buhari) is part of a broad-based initiative aimed at securing a speedy political resolution of the issues surrounding Nnamdi Kanu’s detention and trial, and securing his subsequent release in the spirit of engendering dialogue and non-contentious approaches to resolving thorny national issues, in the understanding that Mazi Nnamdi Kanu is willing, ready and able to embrace the new dynamic in joining hands across the country in building a new Nigeria where peace, equity, justice and prosperity shall reign,” the statement said.
