Group demands Kanu’s release before December 25

American-Igbo military veterans under the auspices of American Military Veterans of Igbo Descent (AVID) have demanded the release of the detained leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, before December 25.

The group in a letter signed by its President, Dr. Sylvester Onyia, and the Secretary, Dr. Godson Obiagwu, on Sunday, stressed that since Nigerian courts have failed to deliver justice in Kanu’s case, Igbo leaders would engage President Bola Tinubu to secure the activist’s release through political means.

AVID also urged the governors and leaders of thought in the South-East to meet with Tinubu and demand the immediate release of the IPOB leader.

The letter read: “We earnestly call on the South-East Governors Forum (SEGF) to meet with President Bola Tinubu on this matter without further delay, considering that this could be construed as evidence that all South-East governors are complicit in the continued incarceration of Nnamdi Kanu.

“If it is true, as we have been told that some South-East politicians, particularly one of the governors, who have been alleged to be blocking the release of Kanu because of his fear that Kanu will scuttle his ambition to become a vice president in 2027 or beyond, we say to such politician that free Kanu will not stop the ambition of any Igbo that wishes to be a vice president of Nigeria.

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“And AVID is committed to seeing that no such interference will occur because we know that Kanu is apolitical and has no interest in engaging in who becomes what in Nigeria’s political landscape.

“In the same vein, all South-East leaders that come in contact with the heads of security agencies in Nigeria should impress on them to eschew their seeming reliance on the continued detention of Kanu as a subterfuge for padding security votes for South-East, which they directly benefit from.

“We earnestly call on the South-East Governors’ Forum (SEGF) to, without further delay, meet with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on this matter. Any further delay could be construed as evidence that all Southeast governors are complicit in the continued incarceration of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu.

“To the South-East civic leaders, such as Ohaneze, traditional rulers, the clergy, and frontline civic groups, we say if the South-East Governors Forum shows an unwillingness, to meet with President Tinubu in the coming days.”

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