EXTRA: Releasing Nnamdi Kanu tantamount to rewarding criminality, says Asari Dokubo

Asari Dokubo, leader of the Niger Delta Peoples Salvation Force (NDPSF), has appealed to the federal government not to release Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the proscribed indigenous people of Biafra (IPOB).

Dokubo also described the nationwide anti-police brutality protests of 2020, otherwise called EndSARS, as “madness” and “nonsense”.

He accused Kanu of latching onto the movement to further his agenda.

Kanu has been in detention on federal charges since he was brought back from Kenya on June 19, 2021.

Speaking with reporters after meeting with President Bola Tinubu on Friday, Dokubo said Kanu is a criminal and should be made to face the full wrath of the law.

“You encourage people to kill other people. When the madness they called EndSARS started, I was one of the people opposed to that nonsense called EndSARS, and Nnamdi Kanu was walking free. What did he do? He poured petrol on the flames for EndSARS,” he said.

“Now, he has been caught, what of the people that have died? This is a criminal, he should face the law. 

“As I am talking, Nnamdi Kanu doesn’t have control over what is happening in the south-east. Simon Ekpa has come out pretending that he was with Nnamdi Kanu, he actually planted a coup against him to take over the leadership of IPOB.

“So, releasing Nnamdi Kanu is rewarding criminality and the gruesome murder of innocent people. He should face the law for the actions and instigations he has carried out.”

Dokubo and Kanu have been at loggerheads over the quest for Biafra, the independent nation agitators say will be carved out of the south-east, some parts of the south-south and middle belt. 

In 2021, Dokubo accused Kanu of turning the Biafra struggle into a business. 

“Biafra is your business now, you have no other avenue for gainful income. It is a pity how Igbo people have fallen for this evil, but your time is up,” he said.

“I am out for you. And I will get you.”

Meanwhile, prominent politicians in the south-east have appealed to the federal government to release Kanu, noting that his freedom is pivotal to peace in a now restive region.

Peter Mbah, governor of Enugu and Charles Soludo, governor of Anambra, are amongst the leading figures soliciting for his liberation.

Kanu was first arrested in October 2015 in Lagos and was slammed with charges bordering on insurrection, illegal possession of firearms, incitement and treason.

In 2017, Kanu fled his Afara-ukwu home in Umuahia, Abia state, shortly before gunmen invaded and ransacked the place.

He was re-arrested in 2021 in Kenya and returned to Nigeria to continue trial.