Kanu: Coalition of Northern Groups condemn Buhari’s ‘disturbing promise to Igbo leaders’

Group, the Coalition of Northern Groups (CNG) has condemned the promise by President Muhammadu Buhari to Igbo leaders to consider unconditional release for detained leader of pro-secession organization, the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), which it described as ‘disturbing.’

It would be recalled that last Friday, President Muhammadu Buhari while playing host to a delegation of South East leaders had accepted to consider the option of unconditional release of leader of pro-secession   group, the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), who is standing trial for treason, terrorism, among five others charges by the Department of State Services (DSS).

President Buhari, while receiving the delegation by First Republic parliamentarian and Minister of Aviation, Chief Mbazulike Amaechi, at State House, Abuja, same day, however, admitted that the offer of unconditional release of the secessionist ‘runs contrary to the doctrine of separation of powers between the Executive and Judiciary.’

Buhari also told the delegation of Igbo leaders that as president in six years, ‘nobody would say I have confronted or interfered in the work of the Judiciary.’

He, however, promised to consider the offer of unconditionally freeing the activist.

“You’ve made an extremely difficult demand on me as leader of this country. The implication of your request is very serious. In the last six years, since I became President, nobody would say I have confronted or interfered in the work of the Judiciary. God has spared you, and given you a clear head at this age, with very sharp memory. A lot of people half your age are confused already. But the demand you made is heavy. I will consider it,” Buhari told the Igbo delegation.

Continuing, the President reiterated his policy of non-interference with the Judiciary, saying; ‘when Kanu jumped bail, got arrested and brought back to the country, I said the best thing was to subject him to the system. Let him make his case in court, instead of giving very negative impressions of the country from outside. I feel it’s even a favour to give him that opportunity.’

The Igbo delegation notably did not include those from the apex socio-cultural body, the Ohanaeze Ndigbo.

However, reacting to the offer by Buhari, the Northern group said during a press conference it convened in Kano, Monday, that the request by the Igbo leaders is an attempt to subvert the course of justice, further maintaining that ‘those who made it should be treated as accomplice and sponsors of the atrocities and crimes Kanu committed against humanity and the Nigerian state.’

Spokesman of the coalition, Abdul-Azeen Suleiman, who addressed the media meeting, also berated President Buhari for his response, saying ‘the North would hold Buhari responsible for the blood of its people unlawfully shed through the activities of Kanu in the event he succumbs to the Igbo pressure to release him.’

“Several millions worth of businesses, properties and valuable assets belonging to northerners and citizens of other regions were destroyed across the South eastern cities on the instructions of Nnamdu Kanu within the same period.

“The demand (by the Igbo elders) and Buhari’s disturbing promise to consider it without minding the number of soldiers, policemen and thousands of other innocent Nigerians already murdered and presently physically threatened by IPOB militants on the express orders of Kanu suggest a lack of sense of responsibility on the part of those in power.

“Buhari’s response to the Igbo leaders’ demand could also signal a dangerous endorsement of the amassing of the huge number of arms already imported by IPOB terrorists and their sponsors, which are already being used to cause mayhem across the country.

“This has also further exposed the extent of complicity and docility of our clerics and other community leaders who were in the forefront of urging tolerance from northerners when they came under incessant attacks, but could not find the voice to speak today.”

“Any attempt to release Kanu will inadvertently reduce Nigeria to a completely lawless state where criminals of all shades will commit crimes against the country, and then ask their traditional rulers and other regional or tribal leaders to press for their release.

“Warn that the North would no longer remain idle when its people are deliberately targeted and massacred while the perpetrators are shielded by criminal tribal bigots who pose as leaders.

“We warn President Buhari that the North has today realized that he places more premium on the pursuit for votes and political popularity for his party, than he does for the sanctity of lives of northerners and security personnel who stake their lives and welfare of families in the service the nation.

“We also warn Buhari to reclaim his statesmanship by refusing to be cajoled into interfering with the standard principle of separation of powers and independence of the judiciary,” the group said.

Suleiman said the coalition on the ground research in the South East showed hat from 2017 to 2020, IPOB under the leadership of Kanu triggered the killing of more than 1,230 northern Nigerians living in parts of the South East.