Ekpo Okemini, Umuahia
South East state governors have been asked not to allow either President Muhammed Buhari or the federal government to intimidate them in their bid to secure the release of the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu.
The father of the IPOB leader, the traditional ruler of Isiama Afaraukwu Ancient City, Egwu Ukwu 11, Eze Israel Kanu made the appeal while speaking to Thisage in his palace in Umuahia, the Abia state capital, calling on the government to release him unconditionally.
Eze Kanu was reacting to the recent resolution by the governors to intervene in the matter, describing their resolution as a well come development for the people of the South East.
Reiterating his support for his son, who is facing charges of alleged treason before a federal High Court in Abuja, he added that the son is agitating for the freedom of Ndigbo and other oppressed groups in the country.
He eulogized the boldness of some traditional rulers from the region who had added their voices to the calls for the release of the leader, assuring that posterity would remember them for their concern for him.
Expressing appreciation that one of the governors, who had earlier distanced himself from the calls for the release of the IPOB leader, has made a U- turn, he appealed to other South East leaders to add their voices to the call.
Recently, the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja had on March 2nd, struck-out six out of the 11-count criminal charges the Federal Government preferred against Kanu and three other pro-Biafra agitators, Chidiebere Onwudiwe, Benjamin Madubugwu and David Nwawuisi.
The court, in the ruling delivered by Justice Binta Nyako, had also said that the fact that IPOB was not an organization registered in Nigeria, it however did not make it an illegal society.
On Wednesday, a Federal High Court sitting in Abuja fixed April 25 to deliver ruling in the application for variation of the order of court on protection of witnesses in the case against Kanu.
