Lawrence Nwimo, Awka
The Chairman, World Igbo Congress (WIC), Professor Anthony Ejiofor, has said that the continued detention of the leader of Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, is a slap on the face of the entire Igbo race.
Professor Ejiofor who stated this Thursday night while featuring on Ikengaonline town-hall, said Kanu’s continued illegal detention “is an insult to Ndigbo, both home and abroad.”
Kanu has been in the custody of the Department of the State Services (DSS) since June 27, 2021, after he was arrested in Kenya and renditioned by the Nigerian Government.
The Nigerian Court of Appeal on October 13, 2022, in its judgment, discharged and acquitted Kanu on all the counts of charges preferred against him by the Nigerian Government and ordered his immediate and unconditional release from detention.
But since then, the IPOB leader has remained in detention as the Government objected to the Appeal Court ruling.
The WIC Chairman while speaking on the theme: “Insecurity in the South-East: The Role of the Nigeria Diaspora,” expressed fears that the continued detention of Kanu might worsen the insecurity troubling the country.
According to him, “Ndigbo in Diaspora have deployed every legal and political means to ensure that his release is effected but that has not been heeded to.
“The continued incarceration of Nnamdi Kanu against all demands of the rule of law is a slap on the face of all Igbo in South-East and in Diaspora.
“His continued stay in detention has a potential to trigger a mass insecurity.”
He said Nigerians must see Kanu’s incarceration as a national problem that must be pursued with vigour.
