Igbos Have Accepted Tinubu As President, We Appeal For Nnamdi Kanu’s Release — Ohanaeze

The President-General of Ohanaeze Ndi Igbo, Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu, has declared that the Igbos have acknowledged President Bola Tinubu as the constitutionally elected President of Nigeria.

Simultaneously, he appealed for the release of the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu.

Iwuayanwu made these remarks in an interview with Arise Television on Sunday.

Despite IPOB asserting that Kanu’s ongoing detention is “unconstitutional” and advocating for a legal right to self-determination under the United Nations laws and the Africa Union Charter, the President-General of Ohanaeze Ndi Igbo stated that his consultations with fellow Igbo people confirmed their acceptance of Tinubu as the President.

He believes Tinubu could play a crucial role in facilitating the release of the incarcerated Kanu to promote peace in the South-East region.

He said, “I, as a leader of Igbos, after consultation with my people, we all agree that there was no reason why Nnamdi Kanu should be incarcerated, no reason why he should be detained.

“He didn’t serve any risk. Rather, his release will help Nigeria and will help the security agencies to differentiate who is a criminal and who is a very honest and dedicated Nigerian. Many criminals hide under the fact that Nnamdi Kanu is in detention and continues to unleash heinous crimes on our people in the south-east.

“As you have already noticed, some people stay outside Nigeria and, from time to time, mobilise armed robbers, armed gunmen, even declare sit at home. And, of course, you know our people are mercantile people, people who are commercial.”

Iwuanyanwu emphasised that the sit-at-home directive adversely impacts Igbo business, causing significant hardship.

He asserted that the release of Nnamdi Kanu would lead to the restoration of normalcy.

“The whole of our people, the political class, the religious class, all of them. And as a leader of Igbos, part of my mandate is to see that Nnamdi Kanu is released. And I have made the appeal to the President. I’ve even sought an appointment to meet the President with some leaders of the South-East, and the President has been very busy.

“I believe that once he’s free, he will invite us because he has been busy attending to so many national and international matters. He will see us because, no doubt, South-East, the Igbos, we are part of Nigeria, we are committed to Nigeria, we believe in Nigeria, we have, over the years, made contributions to the building of Nigeria.

“So, if we cry to our leader, the President, to say this is our problem, I believe he will definitely listen to us.”

He maintained, “Igbos in all the various states in Nigeria have now accepted Tinubu as our President, and we have pledged, and I say that on behalf of our people, that we are going to give Tinubu every support. But we expect Tinubu to look at this problem we have. We expect him to solve this problem, which all of us are talking about.”

Fielding questions on the recent verdict of the Supreme Court on the terrorism trial for Kanu, the President-General said, “The Supreme Court judgment doesn’t bother us because the Judge is supposed to interpret the law and carry our justice.”

“We actually didn’t appeal to the Supreme Court; the appeal we made was to the President. Our President, His Excellency Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR, that’s the person to whom we actually made the appeal, and I believe that our President will realise that if all Igbos are saying one thing, then there must be something in it.

“And besides, Nnamdi Kanu has openly renounced the activities of people who have been kidnapping, murdering, and killing people in the South-East in the disguise of Nnamdi Kanu’s detention.

“Nnamdi Kanu has cautioned that they should stop. He said this openly, and we know that. That is why we are saying that he should be released because we don’t want people to continue to commit crimes under the guise that Nnamdi Kanu is in detention.

“So, I still believe that our president will yield to our request and release him so that now we can now differentiate between those who were actually fighting for him and those who were just criminals,” he added.