2023: Free Nnamdi Kanu Before Elections – HURIWA Tells Buhari Govt

Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) has said it is unsafe to further keep embattled leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, Nnamdi Kanu in detention.

The rights group in a statement signed by its National Coordinator, Emmanuel Onwubiko, said President Muhammadu Buhari government and the Department of State Services, DSS, has showed no regard to the nation’s judiciary for failing to release the agitator, Naija News reports.

HURIWA lampooned the DSS for allegedly denying Kanu access to his lawyers thereby violating court orders.

According to the rights group, the continuous detention and unfair treatment of the IPOB leader will only worsen unrest in the Southeastern region of the country.

HURIWA urged President Buhari to immediately set up a proper mechanism for an all out negotiation and dialogue on ways to restore peace, security and stability to the South East, stressing that it was dangerous for Kanu to remain in detention till April when presidential primary elections would commence.

HURIWA said posterity will not forget Buhari should he now act as a real statesman and a patriot by unconditionally granting pardon to all political detainees, including members and the leaders of IPOB and Yoruba Nation agitators before the 2023 presidential primary elections.

According to the rights group, the trial of the IPOB leader is highly politicised and the Buhari government had grossly mismanaging the matter.

The group knocked the Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami (SAN), who according to it, had on many occasions rushed to the media to make allegations upon allegations against the secessionist leader.

“To state a matter of fact, the President has mismanaged Kanu’s case to an extent that it has stoked tension and caused violence in the South East,” the group said.