The former southeast spokesman for President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Denge Josef Onoh, has appealed to the President for the immediate and unconditional release of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, the detained leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).
He also asked that the government to remove from criminal wanted list, the self-determination activist and advocate for an independent Yoruba Nation, Sunday Adeyemo (aka Sunday Igboho)
Onoh in a statement in Abuja, on Thursday said that his plea is rooted in the imperatives of fairness, national reconciliation, and the restoration of public trust in institutions amid escalating threats to the Nation’s collective security.
Onoh said that he was provoked by the recent peace deals brokered between elements of state governments and notorious bandit kingpins, especially the acceptance of a “peace agreement” by Isiya Kwashen Garwa, one of Nigeria’s 19 most-wanted terrorists, in Katsina State.
He said that the encounter represents a grave miscarriage of justice and a blatant violation of constitutional order.
Onoh further said that these deals, often conducted under the guise of community negotiations in places like Faskari and Batsari Local Government Areas, granted impunity to criminals who have orchestrated unimaginable horrors, while agitators such as Kanu languish in detention for advocating non-violently for self-determination.
“Such arrangements, which have seen bandits surrender token weapons like a handful of AK-47 rifles in exchange for de facto amnesty, fly in the face of Section 33 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), which guarantees the right to life, and the Terrorism (Prevention) Act, which demands accountability for acts of terror,” he argued.
Onoh said the actions undermine the rule of law, embolden criminality, and erode the moral authority of the state, as rightly condemned by voices such as Senator Shehu Sani, who decried the failure of security forces to eliminate but negotiate with those responsible for thousands of deaths.
“This disparity in treatment reveals systemic inequities, the entire southeast see these as favoritism, selective justice, and political expediency undermining Nigeria’s unity and rule of law.
“The atrocities perpetrated by these bandits, particularly under Garwa’s command, dwarf any actions attributed to Kanu or Igboho, rendering their continued persecution not just disproportionate but hypocritical.
“Garwa’s gang has been directly linked to the massacre of 34 worshippers in Katsina state, relentless kidnappings across Katsina, Zamfara, and neighboring states, and coordinated raids that have left communities in Faskari and beyond in perpetual fear.”
He recalled that in the first half of 2025 alone, bandits and insurgents killed at least 2,266 Nigerians, surpassing the entire year’s toll of 2,194 in 2024.
Onoh further note that from July 2024 to June 2025, nearly 5,000 people were abducted, with ransoms totaling over ₦2.57 billion extracted, fueling an economy of terror that has displaced millions and sacked 638 villages in Zamfara state alone.
In the Amnesty International’s investigations since 2020 documented over 294 killings and 306 abductions in Katsina, with daily assaults in Zamfara claiming 273 lives and 467 kidnappings in the last two years.
According to him: “These terrorist gangs the government went into negotiation were imposing blockades, rape women and girls, pillage resources, and control gold mines to arm themselves with over 60,000 illegal weapons circulating in the Northwest. Their violence marked by sexual atrocities, child abductions, and the sacking of entire communities has created ‘captive populations’ in ungoverned spaces, where civilians live under de facto bandit rule.
“I challenge the government or any Nigerian to provide any evidence against Nnamdi Kanu and Sunday Igboho of such crime. In essence, the government’s northern pragmatism versus southern repression perpetuates division, rewarding violence in one region while criminalizing dissent in another-a politically incorrect but evident bais rooted in ethnic power dynamics.”
Onoh told President Tinubu that true equity demands uniform application to negotiate with all or prosecute all, stating that in stark contrast, the actions of Mazi Kanu and Chief Igboho have been those of vocal advocates for regional autonomy, not architects of mass murder or extortion.
He said that the Simon Ekpa led Eastern security Network (ESN) which unleashed killings and atrocities in the southeast should be separated from IPOB as they have no connection.
“Nnamdi Kanu was arrested renditioned back from Kenya in June 18 2021. Has spent nearly 10 years in detention—equivalent to a full prison term under our laws—without conviction, enduring solitary confinement in DSS custody that has severely deteriorated his health, prompting urgent court pleas for transfer to the National Hospital in Abuja.
“Similarly, Igboho, arrested on July 19, 2021, in Benin Republic and released after nearly a year in custody, returned to Nigeria on July 22, 2025, only to face lingering arrest warrants despite a court awarding him ₦20 billion in damages for the unlawful 2021 DSS raid on his Ibadan residence which killed two aides and detained 13 others.
“His efforts to evict criminal herders from Oyo farmlands were defensive responses to insecurity, not offensive terrorism; he has committed no crime warranting his name on the wanted list, which bars him from using his passport or accessing his accounts.
“Mr President, while bandits like Garwa are feted with peace pacts—releasing a mere 28 captives in Faskari as a gesture while evading justice for thousands slaughtered—Kanu has already served the equivalent of an 8-year sentence (from his 2015 arrest to now, minus a brief 2017-2018 bail), and Igboho has endured exile and trauma for over four years.
Read Also: A breath of fresh leadership: Why Josef Onoh stands poised to rescue Enugu from stagnation in 2027
“Statistics bear this out: Between 2013 and 2022, banditry claimed 8,300 lives and 9,527 kidnappings in the Northwest alone, per conservative estimates from the Center for Democracy and Development and UNIDIR. In the same period, no comparable fatalities are attributable to IPOB or Igboho’s activism; their offenses pale against the 143,000 violent deaths nationwide since 2006, predominantly from banditry, insurgency, and communal clashes.
“Releasing Kanu and dropping charges against Igboho would signal that Nigeria values equity over expediency, dialogue over detention, and true security over selective impunity. It would heal sectional wounds, deter actual terrorists, and affirm that no Nigerian is above the law—nor beneath its protection. I urge you, in the spirit of Renewed Hope, to act decisively: Direct the Attorney General to withdraw all charges, quash warrants, and facilitate Kanu’s medical release. Let this be the turning point where justice unites us, not divides.
“I have been the loudest voice in promotion and defence of your administration, but I cannot in good conscience promote or ask my region to support your second term election when a bandit kingpin with a bloody record of slaughtering civilians and soldiers walks free after releasing hostages, while our southern agitators Nnamdi Kanu whose group denies violence rot in DSS holding facility and Sunday Igboho still declared wanted. Your administration cannot prosecute a prisoner of conscience while embracing terrorists. Nigeria expects no less.”
