Southern and Middle Belt Leaders’ Forum (SMBLF)
Halt further prosecution of Kanu, Igboho, Southern leaders tell FG, insist on 2023 Presidency to region
Leaders of the geo-cultural groups in the country, the Southern and Middle Belt Leaders’ Forum (SMBLF) have called on the Federal Government to release detained Biafra people agitator, Nnamdi Kanu, and also halt further prosecution of his Yoruba Nation counterpart, Sunday ‘Igboho’ Adeyemo.
Rising from a meeting which held, Thursday, in Abuja, the group made the call in a communiqué signed by its leaders, including; Chief Ayo Adebanjo, Leader of Afenifere (South West); Dr. Pogu Bitrus, President of the Middle Belt Forum (Middle Belt); Professor George Obiozor, President-General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo represented by the Secretary-General, Ambassador Okey Emuchay, (South-East); and Senator Emmanuel Ibok Essien, the National Chairman of Pan Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF) for the South South region.
SMBLF in the communiqué while demanding the release of leader of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, from detention, described the charges of terrorism and treasonable felony preferred against him by the Nigerian Government as ‘provocative,’ saying it exposes the double standards of the President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration.
The group also demanded a stop to further prosecution of Yoruba Nation activist, Sunday Adeyemo who was recently freed by the Benin Republic government but on health grounds.
“The continued detention and trial of Nnamdi Kanu on charges of terrorism and treasonable felony while known Boko Haram terrorists are being given VIP treatments and hosted in government houses is not only provocative and perfidious but a bizarre double standard on the part of the Nigerian state.
“We demand, in national interest, the immediate release of Nnamdi Kanu and a stop to any further persecution of Sunday Igboho, who is currently on a conditional release in Benin Republic,” the communiqué read.
The IPOB leader has been in the court-ordered custody of the Department of State Services (DSS) since his June, 2021 extradition.
Commenting on the 2023 Presidency, SMBLF enjoined people from the region to reject any political party which does not zone its Presidential ticket to the South, just as it declared support for the unity of the country ‘but anchored on equity, fairness, justice and principle of federalism.’
The group lamented the worsening security challenges in the country, condemning the continued rates of kidnapping and killing of innocent citizens and destruction of livelihoods in parts of the country by terrorists and criminals in the North West, North East and Middle Belt region.
It also condemned in strong terms, the continued massacre and decimation of the indigenous people in Zuru, Kebbi State, Southern Kaduna, Benue, Plateau and Southern Gombe and reiterated its call for State Police.
SMBLF urged the Federal Government to be proactive in its responsibility of protecting the lives and properties of citizens in the country, adding that ‘there was the need to safeguard all communities in the country, and the immediate return of displaced citizens to their ancestral homes.’
