A chieftain of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Okechukwu Isiguzoro, has said some people around President Bola Tinubu are against him releasing the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, Nnamdi Kanu.
Isiguzoro said such people want Kanu to remain incarcerated beyond Tinubu’s administration.
He lamented that these people want the IPOB leader detained alongside incarcerated Boko Haram members.
Speaking with DAILY POST, the Secretary-General of the Chidi Ibeh-led Ohanaeze said they want to turn the Igbos against themselves and ensure that the Southeast is burnt down.
According to Isiguzoro: “We have observed that there are persons who don’t wish Ndigbo well, who would like the Southeast to burn, who harbour so much hatred on Ndigbo because of the past activities of Nnamdi Kanu.
“Such persons are around Mr President and have been around Buhari in the past. These are the people who understand that the continuous incarceration and detention of Kanu would result in insecurity, hardship in the Southeast, and destabilize the most peaceful zone in Nigeria, and by so doing, they encouraged Buhari to ensure that Kanu’s detention was done to make Igbos rebel against themselves.
“Irrespective of the pleas by elder statesmen like late Mbazulike Amaechi to Buhari to release Kanu, these people have continued to mount pressure to ensure his incarceration beyond Tinubu’s tenure.
“Most of them cite instances that former MEND leader, Henry Okar is still in detention after he threatened to blow up the Eagles Square in 2003. Most of them are fighting that they should place Kanu in the same list they placed deadly Boko Haram members.
“These things are deliberate acts to push Southeast and the Monday sit-at-home to the brink so that people of the region will fight back and they would unleash the military on them.
“We know that it will be very difficult for Mr President to be surrounded by persons who will not wish to see Kanu free, the message to Ndigbo is that the enemies are at work, so they should not expect Kanu’s release soon.
“Kanu’s release will surely come, but not so soon because this government is just starting, and the roadblock is too long; it will take the hand of God and Tinubu to defeat these enemies around him.”
