APC Digital Force DG Urges Tinubu to Grant State Pardon to Nnamdi Kanu, Calls Move a Path to National Healing

|By Chinwendu Nwani

The Director General of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Digital Force, Ikeagwuonwu Klinsmann, has urged President Bola Tinubu to grant a state pardon to the detained leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, as a gesture of reconciliation and renewed national unity.

Klinsmann, in a statement from Stockholm, Sweden, on Tuesday, praised President Tinubu as a compassionate and inclusive leader driven by a vision of national cohesion. He said freeing Kanu would reflect true statesmanship and strengthen the President’s agenda of building bridges across Nigeria’s divides.

“At a time when Nigeria is navigating delicate political and ethnic tensions, releasing Mazi Nnamdi Kanu would be a bold step toward healing old wounds and restoring the confidence of the South-East in the Nigerian project,” Klinsmann stated.

He noted that the President’s earlier decision to pardon several convicts and political detainees already showcased his magnanimity and leadership spirit. The APC chieftain further recalled that he had previously appealed to Tinubu—following the death of Pope Francis—to use the moment as an opportunity for national reconciliation by freeing Kanu in honour of the Pope’s legacy of mercy and forgiveness.

Klinsmann also referenced judicial pronouncements questioning the legality of Kanu’s continued detention, urging the President to exercise his constitutional powers under Section 175 of the 1999 Constitution.

“Releasing Nnamdi Kanu through a state pardon will not be an act of weakness but one of visionary leadership,” he asserted. “It will calm tensions in the South-East, boost commerce in cities such as Onitsha, Aba, and Enugu, and revive investor confidence across the region.”