The Federal Government Have No Legal Or Moral Grounds To Still Hold IPOB Leader– Ohaneze

 The Federal Government Have No Legal Or Moral Grounds To Still Hold IPOB Leader– Ohaneze The recent calls for the release of the leader of ...

 The Federal Government Have No Legal Or Moral Grounds To Still Hold IPOB Leader– Ohaneze

The recent calls for the release of the leader of the Indigenous People Of Biafra (IPOB), Mazi Nnamdi Kanu is gradually taking a new dimension as it seems many Igbo elites are waking up.

An Igbo adage says “whenever one wakes from sleep, is his/her morning”. Meaning that ‘it is better late than never'. 

In another wake up call, the apex Igbo socio-cultural group, Ohaneze have again called for the freedom of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu. This call was made by Chief Damian Okeke-Ogene, the Vice President of Ohaneze Ndigbo Worldwide, via a press statement released in Awka, where he said the release of the IPOB leader would arrest the unrest in the zone. Chief Damian also made it known that the President Buhari's government of Nigeria have no legal or moral ground to still hold Mazi Nnamdi Kanu in detention as he voiced his support for the call by the Anambra state governor, Professor Charles Chukwuma Soludo.

The statement reads, “The call should be supported and re-echoed by other stakeholders in Igboland as reflected in the stand of late Mbazulike Amaechi and late Ohanaeze President, Professor George Obiozor. We call on the governors of the South East to reinforce the call by Soludo.

The Federal government has no legal or moral grounds to still hold the IPOB leader in captivity since courts of competent jurisdiction have ordered his unconditional release”, the statement concluded.

We keep our fingers crossed to see if they have sincerely embarked on this course or still playing the usual awkward politics.

It should be noted that though the public call made by Governor Charles Chukwuma Soludo for the release of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, was seen as noble and commendable by some people, so many others(including IPOB) faulted the fact that Soludo was pleading the government for this, and vouching to surety the IPOB leader who has already been discharged and acquitted by courts of competent jurisdiction. 

The Ohaneze's call also, as made by the group's  vice-president, was stated by same, to be in support of the Soludo's move. This is why we are watching to see how things plays out; whether Ohaneze will garner the undivided support of the region's stakeholders to push for the unconditional release of the IPOB leader, seeing there is no legal or moral ground for his continued detention, or  will they go by pleading for government to bail the IPOB leader, against the decision of Courts.

Onyemachi Gabriel, Reporting

For Family Writers Press International