Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, would be released shortly, according to Mbazulike Amaechi, a First Republic Minister of Aviation.
The pledge came from Amaechi while speaking to journalists in Onitsha, Anambra State, ahead of Kanu’s court hearing on Friday.
Last year, the former Minister led a delegation of Igbo elders to meet with President Muhammadu Buhari to discuss Kanu’s release.
Despite Buhari’s assurances that Kanu will be released, Amaechi claims he is still detained.
He claimed that shortly after Kanu’s arraignment in court, Igbo elders met with President Buhari and told him to release him so they could go home and discuss the next Igbo agenda with him, and that “Buhari gave us an audience, and ever since then, negotiations between us and the Federal Government have been on to free Kanu.”
“Although I am upset that Buhari has not yet released him despite guarantees he gave us on the day we saw him at Aso Rock, we are certain that Kanu would be released soon based on current negotiations.”
“Those who are agitating for one thing or another should remain calm and hopeful.” Although, as recent riots have shown, only Kanu’s release would put an end to the riots, we are striving to secure his release.”