NNAMDI KANU: CATHOLIC BISHOPS CONCERNED ABOUT TINUBU’S IMPRISONMENT OF THE IPOB LEADER SEND VITAL MESSAGE

Babatunji Wusu –

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has been requested by the Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria (CBCN) to step in and secure the release of Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of the outlawed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), from detention.

For the benefit of the South-East, the clergy urged the Nigerian president to use his enviable position to investigate all available legal options in order to liberate the Biafra agitator.

This plea was submitted just a day after the IPOB leader’s bail bid was denied by an Abuja Federal High Court.

During the episcopal ordination of the auxiliary bishop of Orlu Diocese in Imo State, the Most Reverend Lucius Ugorji, President of the Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria, stressed that Kanu’s freedom would lead to increased security and economic development in the southeast.

He went on to say that the weekly Monday sit-at-home protests, which have severely damaged the region’s economy and caused large financial losses for several businesses, are proof that Kanu’s protracted arrest has played a major role in the insecurity in the southeast.

Kanu was denied bail by Federal High Court Abuja Judge Binta Nyako.

Rather, the court ordered a swift trial in the matter of the troubled IPOB leader who is charged with treasonable offenses.

Following his apprehension in June 2021, Kanu has been under the Department of State Services’ (DSS) custody. He made an appearance in court on Tuesday.

Justice Nyako ordered the prosecution to call its first witness and declared during the decision that the court would only grant an expedited hearing.

However, Kanu’s attorney, Aloy Ejimakor, voiced his displeasure with the ruling, claiming that the IPOB leader’s legal team was unable to move forward with the case in the absence of communication with their client.

Ejimakor added that because their talks are continuously being monitored, setting up a meeting with Kanu while he is under the DSS’s custody has been difficult.

He voiced his displeasure that Kanu was still wearing the same clothes in defiance of a court order requiring a change, calling this unjust treatment a violation of the Nigerian Constitution.