- By Chinaka Okoro
Jude Emeka Idimogu has urged with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to release the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Mazi Nnamdi Kanu who was arrested in Nairobi, Kenya, in 2021, brought to Nigeria and has since been facing trial.
Hon. Idimogu noted that the action taken will be a decisive factor in determining Tinubu’s success in the Southeast zone in terms of vote gathering.
Idimogu urged well-meaning Nigerians, including Igbo leaders, Southeast governors, to speak in unison by appealing to the President to grant Kanu a pardon.
He said that such a pardon, if granted, would not be forgotten and would aid the party’s fortune in the Southeast in the 2027 general elections.
“I want to plead with our President, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, to kindly see the need to use political means to grant Nnamdi Kanu clemency. I want to appeal to all well-meaning Nigerians, not just those from the Igbo extraction, to help plead with Mr President to use his good offices to release Nnamdi Kanu. If this is done, I believe the insecurity situation and tension in the Southeast will reduce, if not completely eradicate,” he said.
According to Idimogu, who is the Deputy Leader of Ndigbo in Lagos APC, a lot of miscreants have been using Nnamdi Kanu’s name to cause mayhem in the region, noting that the release of Kanu has a lot of advantages both for the Southeast and Nigeria, even as he said that it would de-escalate the tension and make the economy of the region to come alive again.
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“Mr President, consider the Southeast’s case and bring back businesses and trading, long stagnated in the region because of insecurity. An average Igbo man is a trader. We cannot overlook this situation and the contributions of these traders in the Southeast to the economy.
“Southeast used to be home to a lot of people before now; it just suddenly changed to be a den of insecurity and other vices.
This can be arrested with Kanu’s release. Mr President, we know you to be a father with a compassionate heart. Please, help us in the Southeast by granting Nnamdi Kanu freedom.
This will help in stabilising our region,” Idimogu stated.
He added that releasing Kanu would also help the ruling APC in the Southeast as the country approaches the 2027 general elections.
“It will add to APC votes in the Southeast. If the President can look at this issue, the Southeast will never forget him but forever be grateful,” he said.