The President-General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide, Chief John Azuta-Mbata, has called on the Federal Government to release the detained leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, to enable him access proper medical treatment.
Azuta-Mbata made the appeal in a short video message shared with journalists on Thursday. He said Kanu’s continued detention is unnecessary and harmful, stressing the need for a political solution to the matter.
“The government has no serious advantage in keeping him,” he said. “It is important that the government ensures his safety and welfare. The government must allow him to go and get medical treatment as quickly as possible.”
Nnamdi Kanu was first arrested in 2015 by the Nigerian government on charges of treasonable felony and incitement. He was later granted bail in 2017 but fled the country after a military raid on his home in Abia State. In June 2021, he was rearrested in Kenya and brought back to Nigeria in a secretive operation that drew both local and international criticism.
Since then, Kanu has been held in the custody of the Department of State Services (DSS) in Abuja, where his legal team and family members have raised repeated concerns about his health condition and access to medical care.
Ohanaeze, the apex Igbo socio-cultural group, has consistently advocated for peaceful engagement and dialogue between the government and pro-Biafra activists. Chief Azuta-Mbata, who recently assumed leadership of the group, said handling the matter politically would help promote unity and peace in the country.
“The government must adopt a political solution to this situation. I do not believe that the government has any serious advantage in keeping him any further,” he added.
There have been growing calls from South-East leaders, traditional rulers, and civil society groups urging President Bola Tinubu’s administration to release Kanu as a sign of goodwill and a step toward healing the divisions in the region.
