Sit-At-Home Order: HURIWA Calls On President Buhari To Allow Nnamdi Kanu Address The Media

A call has gone out to President Muhammadu Buhari to allow the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) Nnamdi Kanu, to address the media over the controversies surrounding the sit-at-home order in the southeast region of the country.

Naija News reports that the Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA), made the call to the president against the backdrop of recent attacks in some states of the southeast region by gunmen, who claimed to be enforcing five days sit at home order by a disciple of Kanu, identified as Simon Ekpa, who is Finland-based.

However, the IPOB leader has denied any association with Ekpa and the whole recent killings going on in the region due to the order.

To this end, HURIWA has requested that Kanu be given the opportunity to physically address the media to affirm his position and suspend the said sit-at-home order.

The rights group in a statement signed by its national coordinator, Emmanuel Onwubiko, maintained that the president should allow the IPOB leader to give his take on a live television broadcast to clarify the confusion surrounding the sit-at-home order in order to restore calm to the region.

HURIWA noted that Kanu’s address would assuage the suspended animation and suspicions “by some persons loyal to Simon Ekpa that Nnamdi Kanu did not order an end to the economically stagnating sit-at-home order in the southeast of Nigeria.

The group submitted that “The President should let Mazi Nnamdi Kanu speak to Igbo people to affirm or deny the report by his lawyers that he had ordered an end to the Sit-at-home order which one Mr Simon Ekpa an alleged follower of the detained leader disputed and ordered for forceful implementation of the so-called Sit-at-home order.

“Secondly, just as was done in Ukraine, President Muhammadu Buhari should democratise arms licences so sane adult Nigerians can bear AK-47 and AK-49.

“If President Muhammadu Buhari is not the sponsor of the chaos in the South-East then let his government adopt a pragmatic approach such as permitting that Kanu addresses the media as a matter of extreme urgency to put an end to these killings.”

HURIWA also blamed the security agencies the Department of State Services (DSS) and the police force in the southeast for their failure to tackle effectively the recent bloody attacks on innocent citizens.