IPOB CAUTIONS ATIKU AND OTHERS AGAINST USING NNAMDI KANU AS A NEGOTIATING CHIP IN THE ELECTION.

The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) have cautioned the presidential hopefuls running to succeed President Muhammadu Buhari in May 2023 not to use their imprisoned leader Nnamdi Kanu in their political advertising before the election that month.

In a statement released on Wednesday, IPOB’s media and publicity secretary, Emma Powerful, issued the warning in response to Atiku Abubakar’s pledge to release Kanu unconditionally if elected president of the People Democratic Party (PDP).

Atiku has a plan to restore peace in the South-East, according to Professor Obiora Okonkwo, Director-General of the PDP Presidential Campaign Council, and freeing the IPOB leader is one of those plans.

Okonkwo made this claim just 48 hours after Bruce Fein, Kanu’s international spokesperson and American attorney, urged Atiku, Bola Tinubu, and Peter Obi to pledge to release the self-determination leader from the Department of State Services (DSS) custody if any of them were to win the next presidential election.

In response to Okonkwo’s remarks, IPOB stated that PDP should request that the federal government release their leader and refrain from using it in the election.

The statement read, “IPOB leadership wish to stress that its leader should under no circumstances be utilized as a political bargaining chip for Nigerian election.

It read, “Mazi Nnamdi Kanu has been deemed an innocent man by a court, and as a result, he must be freed from his ongoing illegal arrest and torture by this current administration of APC. Nothing averse is what we anticipate, only the execution of the Court of Appeal’s decision.

“In addition, the leadership of IPOB wants the PDP to know that, despite the fact that we don’t disagree with their statement, their priority should be pressing for the Nigerian government to abide by the ruling of their own court.

“Our demand has been and will continue to be the same, whoever or whatever is in Aso Rock, the Nigerian seat of authority. Because of our intrinsic right to self-determination, we have called for a democratic referendum that will allow Biafrans to choose their fate and whether they want to remain a part of Nigeria or a free and independent Biafran nation.