President Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday dashed the hope of Igbo leaders in the release of the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafria (IPOB), Mr. Namadi Kanu when he (Buhari) said the separatist champion would have to defend himself in court for peddling misleading information when he holed up overseas.
Recall that some Igbo elders, led by First Republic minister of aviation, Mr. Mbazulike Amaechi, had visited the president on November 19, 2021 and requested Kanu’s unconditional release.
The president told the delegation that while he would not want to interfere in the judicial process in relation to Kanu’s case, he would consider their demand which he described as “a heavy one.”
But speaking on Wednesday in a live interview on Channels Television, Buhari reiterated that he would not interfere in the judicial process of IPOB leader’s trial, insisting that Kanu should defend himself.
“There is one institution that I wouldn’t interfere with, that is the judiciary; Kanu’s case is with the judiciary but what I wonder is when Kanu was safely in Europe, abusing this administration and mentioning too many things, I thought he wants to come and defend himself on the accusations.
“So, we are giving him an opportunity to defend himself in our system, not to be abusing us from Europe as if he was not a Nigerian. Let him come here with us and then criticise us here. Nigerians know that I don’t interfere with the judiciary, let him be listened to. But those who are saying that he should be released, no, we cannot release him,” he said.
On a possible political solution to the matter, Buhari said such could be on the cards in a situation in which people exhibited good conduct.
“There is a possibility of political solution. If people behave themselves, all well and good but you can’t go to a foreign country and keep on sending incorrect economic and security problems (sic) against our country and thinking that you would not account for what you have been doing. Let him (Kanu) account for what he has been doing,” he added.
Recall that the Abia State-born separatist leader was first arrested in 2017 for demanding the secession of the southeast zone from the Nigerian State.
Kanu who was granted bail in April 2017, fled the country after the invasion of his home in Afara-Ukwu, near Umuahia, Abia State, by the military in September that year.
Justice Binta Nyako subsequently revoked his bail for ditching his trial, and ordered his trial to be separated from the rest of the co-defendants’.
While the trial of the rest of the defendants made some progress, Kanu’s was stalled since 2017.
On June 29, 2021, the attorney general of the federation and minister of justice, Mr. Abubakar Malami, announced that Kanu had been rearrested and brought back to Nigeria to continue facing his trial.
He said the IPOB leader was “intercepted” and brought back to Nigeria.
After his re-arrest, Kanu was re-arraigned before Justice Binta Nyako for terrorism-related charges brought against him by the federal government.
He has since been remanded in the custody of the Department of State Services in Abuja while his trial is scheduled to continue on January 18, 2022.
