The leader of the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra, or IPOB, Nnamdi Kanu, must be released immediately and without conditions, according to a demand made by the Igbo think tank Alaigbo Development Foundation, ADF.
Following the ADF’s executive meeting on Sunday, Prof. Ukachukwu Awuzie, President of the organization, announced at a press conference in Enugu.
ZINGTIE recalls that Justice Binta Nyako of an Abuja-based Federal High Court denied bail to Kanu, whom the Federal Government had arraigned.
His lawyers have also cried out that while he is in detention, he cannot receive justice.
Awuzie stated at the press briefing that Kanu’s demand for self-determination represented the fundamental rights enshrined in both the African and United Nations Charter for Human and People’s Rights.
He noted that Kanu’s continuing incarceration was particularly worrisome since Boko Haram fighters who had turned to violence against the country were being freed and reintegrating into society—some even going so far as to be drafted into the country’s security apparatus.
“The ADF calls for the unconditional release of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra(IPOB).
“The struggles for self-determination embarked upon by Kanu and his supporters are popular democratic agitations and constitute the fundamental rights enshrined in the United Nations Charter for Human Rights and the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights.
“Kanu’s continued incarceration constitutes a spite on social justice and an infringement on his fundamental rights to self expression, especially when viewed against the Federal Government’s attitude of allowing those who had taken up arms against the state to be released, rehabilitated and even reintegrated into the Nation’s security architecture,” he said.
The former president of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) stated that the goal of the ADF was to create a powerful and virile Igbo Intelligentsia that is prepared and eager to defend the cause of Igbo liberation from marginalization, oppression, and press – development.
As “it is one sure way of harnessing our abundant human and material resources for the attainment of food security,” he called on the governors of the Southeast to collaborate on a comprehensive development plan for the Igbo country.
“The time has come for Ndigbo to create master-plans for infrastructural development of their region with a solid rail system to link all the major industrial, commercial and administrative hubs in Alaigbo,” he said.
According to Awuzie, the new executive was committed to an ADF that equally prioritized our self-determination in Nigeria and pursued the goals and aspirations of Ndigbo within the Nigerian federation.
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