New calls for the trial of Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), to be halted have been criticized by the Coalition of Northern Groups (CNG).
Ohanaeze and a few leaders and groups of Igbo people have asked the “President-elect,” Bola Tinubu, to free Kanu after he takes office.
Following Kanu’s June 2021 transfer from Kenya to Nigeria, the Department of State Services’ secret police placed him in custody.
In the meantime, Tinubu will be sworn in on May 29, 2023, if the cases brought before the court to contest his victory are not resolved in his favor by that time.
However, the CNG has characterized Tinubu’s requests for Kanu’s pardon and release as unreasonable, careless, and unrealistic.
The representative for the alliance, Abdul-Azeez Suleman in Abuja, on Monday approached the specialists to excuse such calls.
He urged the authorities to ensure Kanu’s prosecution, arguing that letting the separatist leader go will set a bad example of how regional leaders can sabotage the justice system or help criminals avoid being caught.
According to a portion of the statement, “To specifically invite the attention of the incoming President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to remain vigilant as to the direction the country is headed so as to avoid the kind of mistake that was committed by the late President Shehu Shagari in granting unconditional state pardon to the initiator of the Biafra project, Odumegwu Ojukwu, which has proven to be counterproductive.”
He ought to keep in mind that the vast majority of Kanu’s casualties come from the North, where he received the majority of his winning votes.
“We remind him of the moral repercussions of falling into the trap set by the Ndigbo of the South-East, where he obtained very little support at the expense of his true friends and allies in the North, who bear the brunt of Kanu’s atrocities.
“Instead, the president should continue to be resolute in ensuring that Kanu, his sponsors, backers, and collaborators in the heinous crimes against the Nigerian state and innocent Nigerian citizens are diligently prosecuted,” the statement reads.
The statement continued, “The federal government must not accede to the current pressure by Ohanaeze and its ilk to secure the unconditional release of the leader of a group that has been duly proscribed as terrorist” in order to prevent mass killings, untold suffering, and atrocities in this day and age.