Nnamdi Kanu: South-east Traditional Rulers To Attend Trial; Ebonyi State Exempted

By Charles Igbo

A delegation of Traditional Rulers from the South-east Traditional Council, will be at the trial of the Leader of the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, in Abuja, on Thursday, October 21, to watch the proceedings.

This was contained in a release signed by the  Chairmen of the Traditional Rulers in the Zone after a meeting on Tuesday, October 19, 2021. Those who signed were:

*HRH, Joseph Nwabeke, Abia State.

* HRH, L.O.C. Agubuzu, Enugu.

*HRM, Nnaemeka Achebe, Anambra.

*HRH, E.C. Okeke, Imo.

It is not known why the Chairman of the Ebonyi State Traditional Rulers Council did not sign, but the Governor of Ebonyi State, Dave Umahi, was reported recently, to have, allegedly, said that “Ebonyi State is not part of Biafra”.

Said the Traditional Rulers: “As a father would do for his  child in difficulty, we will send a delegation to attend the Court hearing in Abuja on 21, October, 2021, when Nnamdi Kanu would be arraigned.”

The Traditional Rulers, also, asked President Muhammadu Buhari to de-proscribe IPOB and cause Kanu to be released from custody.

The FG proscribed IPOB in 2017, and termed it a terrorist organization, a tag it has refused to place on murderous bandits operating in the North.

However, the Traditional Rulers, decrying the militarization of the Zone, urged “IPOB and its affiliate units and other protest groups in Alaigbo, to immediately stop all provocative rhetoric and actions that tend to promote violence, fear, or other unlawful acts by their affiliates, sympathisers, and miscreants, in the name of such organizations.”

For the records, on same Tuesday, gunmen stormed a meeting of about 20 Traditional Rulers at the Headquarters of Njaba, Orlu, Imo State, opened fire on them, killing two of the Traditional Rulers on the spot, and injuring many others.