Igbo Youths under the aegis of the Igbo Youth Forum, IYF, has appealed to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to release the detained leader of IPOB, Maxi Nnamdi Kanu, saying they will mobilise one million youths from the region to support him in the 2027 election if he did so.
To do otherwise, the Igbo youths said means that President Tinubu will lose massive votes from the region in the next presidential election.
The group blamed President Tinubu’s shambolic performance in the region in the 2023 presidential election was due to his refusal to commit to the release of the IPOB leader.
The President of IYF Chinedum Obilor made this remark during the Executive Meeting of the forum in Umuahia, Abia state on Tuesday.
He wondered why the IPOB strongman is still being kept in detention when other agitators such as Sunday Igboho have been released by the government. The group said Kanu has not committed any crime to warrant his continuous detention by the federal government, stressing that a court in Kenya recently affirmed him innocent of the case against him.
Recall that Kanu was arrested in 2022 in the East African country following which he was deported to Nigeria, and has since been arraigned in court on terrorism related allegations.
According to Obiozor, some politicians from the region are using Kanu as a bargaining chip with the federal government, stressing that the youth are the ones who will determine the fate of the president come 2027.
He warned that if Tinubu failed to accede to their request to release Kanu, they will proceed to work for any candidate who promises to do their wish.
“We the Igbo youth decided to call this meeting to let the president know that they should release Kanu for us.We want to tell him that Kanu didn’t do anything more than others freedom fighter like Sunday Igboho, who released from detention,” Obiozor said.
“Why must Kanu’s case different? Are the Igbo second class citizens of this country?Are we not part of this country?
“We want the Federal Government to hear directly from the youths of the Igbo land that we are not happy that our brother is still in detention up till now.
“He have noticed that politicians the governors, some of the senators and some reps members are part of the reason why our brother is still there. When they go to Abuja they tell the president of their personal matters. They are not in charge, the youths are in charge
“We want to use this opportunity to tell mr president that what happened in the last election when the Igbo didn’t vote the ruling APC was because of the detention of our brother, we are telling him that if doesn’t release our brother from detention in two month’s time, we will mobilize more than one million youths to take a stand and negotiate with anybody or group that will release him for us if they come to power.
“We all know that the politicians are using maziNnamdimKanu to do politics. We are warming that enough is enough. Somebody like NnamdiKanu will go to court you will not see any governor or National Assembly members, apart from one man Hon Obi Obiagocha. Politicians have forgotten that they are in office because of our votes, so they must listen to us because we have the power to vote them on and out. We warning all of them if they can’t speak for Nnamdi Kanu now, they should not use his name to do 2027 politics.
“We are pleading to president to listen to us, our leaders like the late Chief Emmanuel Iwuanyawu pleaded with the Federal Government to release Kanu, but they refuse to release him.We pleading and telling the president to use his wisdom to release him for the youths
“If he does that he won’t need to buy any vote from the South East, he won’t need to give us rice, money to win election. This is the only thing we need Mr.President, if you do it for us you will from us in the next election, but if you fail us you will also hear from us in the next election,” he concluded.
Kanu and IPOB are fighting for the establishment of the State of Biafra.
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