By Gideon Njoku
“A source told this medium that Buhari was shattered by the brutal murder and beheading of the Soldier-couple and the indecent treatment of their corpses in Imo State which the Army quickly laid on the door step of IPOB/ESN, and therefore, made up his mind not to entertain any plea for Kanu’s release
Speculations have been rife over why President Muhammadu Buhari dashed the hopes of the Igbo on Friday, May 5, 2022, when he failed to order the release of the Leader of the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra, IPOB, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu during his meeting with the cream of Igbo Leaders in Abakiliki, Ebonyi State. This medium gathered that the brutal murder of the soldier-couple a few days before Buhari’s visit hardened his heart over the request for Kanu’s release.
Kanu has been in the custody of the Federal Government since he was rearrested in Nairobi Kenya, in June 2021, and brought back to Nigeria to face sundry allegations, including Terrorism and Treasonable felony.
Ever since then, the Igbo leadership, with Ohanaeze Ndigbo as the arrow head, has been appealing to President Buhari to release Kanu unconditionally to stem the tension in the South-east where Kanu hails from. It has even been suggested that the unprecedented insecurity in the Zone could become a thing of the past if Kanu is released as every criminal gang in the Zone now claims to be involved in the atrocities because of Kanu’s detention and trial.
The President had been told, a number of times, that Kanu’s case is better handled politically than legally.
Once when some Igbo Leaders led by a former Minister for Aviation in the First Republic, 94 -year old Mbazulike Amaechi, went to the Presidential Villa to appeal to Buhari over Kanu, the President had raised their hopes that he would consider releasing him, difficult as it is, especially, when Mbazulike asked the President to release Kanu personally to him, as a favour before he, Mbazulike, dies.
Weeks after Buhari raised their hopes, he reneged and insisted it would be left for the Courts. That was when he went to Imo State on a working visit.
Since then, Buhari had played deaf to the appeals even when Ohanaeze Ndigbo visited and appealed again to him.
However, hopes were raised on Buhari’s two-day visit to Ebonyi State on Thursday, May 4, 2022.
In a meeting with the President on Friday, the Igbo Leaders had appealed to the President again to release Kanu. But in response, he rejected.
Buhari publicly told Ndigbo, to their face, that Kanu’s trial would go full circle in the Courts.
Kanu was on bail and facing the charges against him when the Army inexplicably invaded his father’s Palace where he was, and forced him to flee to safety.
In a statement, Buhari’s spokesperson, Femi Adesina quoted the President as telling the Leaders in response to the appeals that:
‘‘I have listened carefully to the various appeals from the elders to the traditional leaders regarding a wide range of options, and as I have said previously this matter remains in the full purview of the courts where it will be properly adjudicated.”
Adesina: “President Muhammadu Buhari Friday in Abakiliki pledged that the Federal Government would deploy its strength to protect innocent and hardworking Nigerians from terrorists and those causing break down of law and order in the South East region.
“Speaking at a meeting with South-East leaders, during his two-day State visit to Ebonyi, the President expressed concern over the deteriorating security situation in the region, reiterating his directive to security agencies to ‘‘flush out’’ those perpetrating violence in the land.
‘‘I must register my deep and grave concern with regards to the deteriorating state of security affairs in this region.
‘‘In the last 48 hours, I have been informed of the latest in the round of brutal actions carried out by gun-wielding terrorists, who prey on innocent and hardworking citizens, unfortunately, these barbaric acts were visited upon those who have committed their lives to protect their fellow citizens,’’
‘‘I have listened carefully to the various appeals from the elders to the traditional leaders regarding a wide range of options, and as I have said previously this matter remains in the full purview of the courts where it will be properly adjudicated.
‘‘My worry is for our hardworking and innocent civilians, for whom life is already tough and would like to earn a decent and honest living.
‘‘There are many that fit this profile and the Government owes them that obligation to protect lives and property.
‘‘I will once again repeat, no one has the right to carry an AK-47, and anyone seen in any part of the country doing so and is not a law enforcement officer is a threat to our peaceful coexistence and should be treated as such”
However sources told this medium that President Buhari may, indeed, have considered releasing Kanu, but that the escalation of the insecurity in the South-east in the past few weeks, especially, the brutal killing and beheading of two soldiers in Imo State on Saturday, April 30, 2022 put him off.
Said the source: “The President was shattered over the manner of the killing and beheading of the two soldiers who were a couple. And because the Army had attributed it to IPOB/ESN, the President saw no reason in granting the request for Kanu’s release.
“Added to that, the President is taken aback by the resumption of the razing of Police facilities and the killings of security personnel on duty in the Zone, especially, in Anambra and Imo States. He has the strong belief that IPOB/ESN are masquerading as unknown gunmen.”
However, IPOB has strongly denied any involvement in the violence in the South-east, including the killing and beheading of the soldier-couple, and other security personnel.
The group has, instead, put the blame on State actors.
