Biafra: CNG Kicks Against Calls For Nnamdi Kanu’s Release

The Coalition of Northern Groups (CNG) has called on President Muhammadu Buhari not to pardon the detained leader of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu.

Naija News recalls that some Igbo leaders led by a First Republic Minister of Aviation, Chief Mbazulike Amaechi, on Friday, visited President Buhari in Aso Rock and appealed for the unconditional release of Kanu.

Though President Buhari told them they made a difficult and huge request, the Nigerian leader promised to consider their appeal.

Speaking at a press conference in Kano on Monday, spokesman of the coalition, Abdulazeez Suleiman, berated the Igbo leaders for asking for the release of the IPOB leader.

Suleiman stated that the coalition rejects in its entirety the response of President Buhari to consider the request of the Igbo delegation to release the detained IPOB leader.

He said the North would hold Buhari responsible for the blood of its people unlawfully shed through the activities of Kanu if he is pardoned or granted amnesty.

The CNG spokesman submitted that the IPOB leader cannot be trusted to keep his end of the bargain if the government decides to release him, adding that any attempt to release Kanu will inadvertently reduce Nigeria to a completely lawless state.

He said: “The North would hold Buhari responsible for the blood of its people unlawfully shed through the activities of Kanu in the event he succumbs to the Igbo pressure to release him.”

“The coalition on the ground research in the South East showed that from 2017 to 2020, IPOB under the leadership of Kanu triggered the “killing of more than 1,230 northern Nigerians living in parts of the South East.

“Several millions worth of businesses, properties and valuable assets belonging to northerners and citizens of other regions were destroyed across the Southeastern cities on the instructions of Nnamdi Kanu within the same period.

“The demand (by the Igbo elders) and Buhari’s disturbing promise to consider it without minding the number of soldiers, policemen and thousands of other innocent Nigerians already murdered and presently physically threatened by IPOB militants on the express orders of Kanu suggest a lack of sense of responsibility on the part of those in power.

“Buhari’s response to the Igbo leaders’ demand could also signal a dangerous endorsement of the amassing of the huge number of arms already imported by IPOB terrorists and their sponsors, which are already being used to cause mayhem across the country.

“This has also further exposed the extent of complicity and docility of our clerics and other community leaders who were in the forefront of urging tolerance from northerners when they came under incessant attacks, but could not find the voice to speak today.

“The coalition, therefore, resolved among others that any attempt to release Kanu will inadvertently reduce Nigeria to a completely lawless state where criminals of all shades will commit crimes against the country, and then ask their traditional rulers and other regional or tribal leaders to press for their release.”

The coalition also warned Buhari to reclaim his statesmanship by refusing to be cajoled into interfering with the standard principle of separation of powers and independence of the judiciary.

He stated: “Warn that the North would no longer remain idle when its people are deliberately targeted and massacred while the perpetrators are shielded by criminal tribal bigots who pose as leaders.

“Warn President Buhari that the North has today realized that he places more premium on the pursuit for votes and political popularity for his party, than he does for the sanctity of lives of northerners and security personnel who stake their lives and welfare of families in the service the nation.”