The Igbo socio-cultural organisation, Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide, has again appealed to President Bola Tinubu to release Nnamdi Kanu, the detained leader of the outlawed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).
The IPOB leader, who is facing terrorism trial at the Federal High Court in Abuja, has been in detention since he was repatriated to Nigeria from Kenya in June 2021 under controversial circumstances.
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IPOB is a group leading agitation for an independent state of Biafra which it wants carved out from the South-east and some parts of the South-south Nigeria.
Plea for release
In a statement on Friday by its spokesperson, Ezechi Chukwu, Ohanaeze pleaded with Mr Tinubu to deploy his “constitutional powers and diplomatic” instruments” to release Mr Kanu in the “spirit of equity, fairness and inclusive justice.”
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The Igbo group said 27 June marked four years of the IPOB leader’s “unlawful arrest and detention” in Kenya, prior to his extradition to Nigeria.
“The question of Nnamdi Kanu’s continued detention poses a moral burden on the corporate integrity of the Nigerian judicial system.
“Since his process of extradition from Kenya is unlawful and the basis for his arraignment questionable, one wonders the rationale for detaining Kanu for four years without justice,” Ohanaeze stated.
Background
This is not the first time Ohanaeze Ndigbo would call for the release of Mr Kanu.
Ohanaeze’s past leaders and other Igbo leaders, including governors, have repeatedly called on the Nigerian government to release the IPOB leader.
But the government has ignored their requests.
Meanwhile, Mr Kanu was first arrested in 2015 under the administration of former then-President Muhammadu Buhari.
The Court of Appeal, Abuja, on 13 October 2022, held that the IPOB leader was extraordinarily renditioned to Nigeria and that the action was a flagrant violation of the country’s extradition treaty and also a breach of his fundamental human rights.
The court, therefore, struck out the terrorism charges filed against Mr Kanu by the Nigerian government and ordered his release from the facility of the SSS.
But the government refused to release the IPOB leader, insisting that he (Kanu) could be unavailable in subsequent court proceedings if released and that his release would cause insecurity in the South-east, where he comes from.
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The government, through the office of the Attorney-General of the Federation, later appealed the court ruling and subsequently obtained an order staying the execution of the court judgement at the Supreme Court.
Delivering judgement on the appeal on 15 December 2023, the Supreme Court reversed the acquittal granted to Mr Kanu by the lower court and consequently ordered continuation of his trial at the Federal High Court Abuja.
On 19 June 2025, the Nigerian government closed its case against the IPOB leader after the 5th prosecution witness was led in evidence and cross-examined by Mr Kanu’s lawyer, Onyechi Ikpeazu, before Justice James Omotosho of the Federal High Court in Abuja.
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