“Nnamdi Kanu Is Prisoner Of Conscience” – Archbishop Onuoha

By Charles Igbo

The Archbishop of  Owerri Ecclesiastical Province, Anglican Communion, His Grace, The Most Rev’d Dr David Onuoha, has called for the immediate, and  unconditional release of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu.

Kanu is the detained Leader of the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra, IPOB. He has been in detention since 2021 when he was renditioned from Nairobi, Kenya, and kept under the custody of the Directorate of State Services, DSS. The Federal Government which proscribed IPOB, is prosecuting Kanu for sundry issues including treasonable felony. Most of the charges have been dismissed and Kanu had been discharged and acquitted by at least two Courts, but the prosecution continues as the FG insists on some other charges.

But in his Homily at the Service of Songs/Day of Tributes in honour of Chief Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu, CFR, the President General of Ohaneze Ndigbo Worldwide who passed, recently, at the Cathedral Church of the Transfiguration of our Lord, CATOL, Owerri, by the Owerri Ecclesiastical Province, Anglican Communion,  Archbishop Onuoha urged the Federal Government to release Kanu unconditionally in honour of Iwuanyanwu.

According to the Archbishop, in his Homily which was, at once, fiery, emotional and heart -lifting, the release of Kanu will de-escalate the tension in the South-east, and drastically reduce the insecurity which has bedeviled it.

He called on the Igbo from all works of life, including the Clergy,  Politicians, Traditional Rulers, Businessmen and women, Youths, Journalists, all Stakeholders, to speak out with one voice and insist on the unconditional release of Nnamdi  Kanu.

Iwuanyanwu’s last outing, the Archbishop reminded the hundreds present, was a visit to Kanu at the DSS detention centre. The release of Kanu was very important to Iwuanyanwu, the Archbishop added.

Earlier,  Archbishop Onuoha had urged Igbo youths to stop the killings and destruction in the South-east.

Chief Iwuanyanwu, who died at the age of 82, will be laid to rest at his residence, Atta Community, Imo State, on Friday, November 1, 2024.