- The ruler said Kanu has never been violent
The Isiama Afaraukwu Autonomous Community in Umuahia North, Abia State, marked this year’s new yam festival on a low scale to express dissatisfaction over the prolonged detention of their son, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).
HRH Eze Amaechi Kelvin Ugwueje, the community’s traditional ruler, revealed that it felt inappropriate to celebrate fully while Kanu, a prince of the community, remains in custody.
Eze Ugwueje, who succeeded Kanu’s late father following his death after a military invasion of their palace in 2017, noted that the community remains in mourning. “We cannot be celebrating while our son is languishing in detention,” he said.
Kanu has been held in solitary confinement by the Department of State Services (DSS) since his extraordinary rendition from Kenya in June 2021, despite multiple appeals and court rulings, including a United Nations directive, for his immediate release.
The monarch urged President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to release Kanu as a gesture of goodwill towards the Igbo people, emphasizing that his freedom would contribute to peace in the South East. He also called on those exploiting Kanu’s detention to fuel insecurity in the region to cease such actions, which go against Kanu’s principles.
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