Igbo elders demand release of Nnamdi Kanu, end to economic blockades against Eastern Nigeria

• The Igbo elders also sought an immediate end to ports and economic blockades against Eastern Nigeria

Igbo elders under the auspices of the United Igbo Elders Council, UNIEC, are demanding the unconditionally release of the embattled leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, Nnamdi Kanu.

Kanu has been in detention since 2021 after his rendition from Kenya.

UNIEC also called on the Federal Government to free all political prisoners and put end to unlawful, hooded, night and secret arrests, detentions, and extrajudicial killings in the country.

The group’s demand is contained in a statement issued by its Director of Media and Publicity, Prof Obasi Igwe, and Coordinator-General, Alpha Justice, on Saturday.

The Igbo elders also sought an immediate end to ports and economic blockades against Eastern Nigeria.

In the statement titled, “New Governance Model for Nigeria”, the group set a five-point agenda for meaningful peace and development in the country.

UNIEC said its demands were sequel to a series of consultations and detailed analysis of diverse proposals over the dire situation in today’s Nigeria, adding that restructuring, regionalism, and referendum are win-win templates for peace and stability in Nigeria.

The statement read: “It is an indisputable fact that by mid-2015, there was not a single insurgency or war to overthrow the Federal Government or procure a Biafra anywhere in Igbo society and none today, except the one manufactured by a tyrant that made sure that such a war existed, with shoot-to-kill or shoot-at-sight orders openly issued against promising innocent youngsters in full view of all the world, in part to punish the Igbo for their sundry sins.

“We, therefore, demand for the unconditional release of all political prisoners, including the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, and his colleagues, with immediate end to all manner of unlawful, hooded, night and secret arrests, detentions and extrajudicial killings.

“Mazi Nnamdi Kanu has been tortured, victimized and dehumanized beyond measure and it confers to a nation no value to continue to keep an innocent citizen in jail.

“Opening up the Igbo/Eastern Ports system equally spills over and triggers development across the Eastern Middle Belt and beyond, while the continual lockdown of the Igbo/Eastern Ports is also having cumulative negative tolls on the entire Eastern half of the country down to Maiduguri.

“Nigeria demands restructuring based on single nationality regions side by side with multi-ethnic nationality regions, and the number in each category to be determined by competitive regional consideration.

“No economic policy or blueprint, however brilliantly formulated, can work beyond a marginal neocolonial glass ceiling without a correct political economy or foundation, otherwise a basis on which the superstructure stands.”