Release our son, Kanu's parents plead with Buhari

26-09-2016 

Parents of detained lead­er of the Indigenous Peo­ples of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, His Royal Maj­esty (HRM) Eze Israel Kanu, and Ugoeze Sally Kanu, have appealed to President Muham­madu Buhari to release their son.

They said that the younger Kanu committed no crime to be kept in prison by the Feder­al Government since October 2015 when he was arrested for alleged treasonable offences.

Speaking with The AU­THORITY in his palace at Afarukwu Umuahia, Eze Kanu, who is the traditional ruler of Afaraukwu autonomous com­munity, said his son was inno­cent of all the charges preferred against him by the Federal Gov­ernment and should be released.

He argued that even the Ni­gerian constitution guarantees freedom of speech of the citi­zens, and wondered why his son should continue to be held be­hind bars for merely demand­ing for Biafra self-rule.

The monarch said: “I want my son released because he committed no crime. He is not armed and he is only fighting for his right.”

His wife, Ugoeze Kanu, spe­cifically appealed to Buhari to release her son so he could get medical attention following re­ports of his deteriorating health.

She said it was over seven months she last saw her son in prison and was worried over re­ports of his failing health.

Meanwhile, Eze Kanu has hailed the IPOB over its sit-at-home order to its members and sympathisers to press for the re­lease of Nnamdi, saying that “an aggrieved person has the right to express his grievances.”

He expressed support for the action, noting that it was better than street protests which often lead to the loss of innocent lives.

The octogenarian, who con­tended that people had the in­alienable right to express their feelings about how they are governed, called on the interna­tional community to prevail on the Nigerian government to re­lease his son and other detained Biafra agitators.

Eze Kanu said there was nothing wrong with Nigeria conducting a plebiscite to de­termine if the demand for the Biafra state is popular or not.

He, however, accused the Igbo political class of docility over the ordeal of his son and the Biafran project, saying that they rather preferred to remain taciturn because of their selfish interests.

The monarch said the po­litical elite should not leave the struggle for the ordinary peo­ple or be afraid to speak out for fear of victimisation, arguing that if Biafra is actualised, it is the political class that will ben­efit from it.

There was partial compli­ance with the sit-at-home or­der in Umuahia, the Abia State capital.

The AUTHORITY discov­ered that some private schools in Umuahia closed down on Friday, apparently for fear of the unknown.

One of the schools issued a circular on Thursday direct­ing its pupils not to turn up on Friday.

Similarly, it was observed that the usual crowd in the banks were not present when our correspondent visited some of them to monitor the situa­tion.

Although bank officials were not willing to respond to inquiries by our correspondent, the low turnout of customers was not unconnected with the IPOB’s order.