Sowore: Some Igbo elite complicit in Nnamdi Kanu’s prolonged detention

Omoyele Sowore, publisher of Sahara Reporters, says some members of the Igbo elite are complicit in the prolonged detention of Nnamdi Kanu. 

He added that the incarceration of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) leader is proof that “Nigeria has an Igbo problem”.

Speaking in an interview with Rudolf Okonkwo on 90Minutes Africa, Sowore argued that Kanu is a casualty of the post-civil war marginalisation of the Igbos.

“Nigeria has an Igbo problem. It’s like when a father is dying, they will tell their children, I have a problem with Igbo people; please continue from there,” he said.

Sowore expressed disappointment that the President Bola Tinubu administration has not freed Kanu.

“I expected that the first act of Tinubu in office would have been to release Nnamdi Kanu. But the fact that it got worse shows that there is a kind of conspiracy going on,” he added. 

“I also know that there are some Igbo elite who are complicit in his detention because there was a time when there were discussions about his release, and they said it should hold on until after the election.

“And now, after the election, the devil seems to have intervened more strongly.”

BACKGROUND

Kanu has been in the custody of the Department of State Services (DSS) since he was re-arrested in Kenya and extradited to Nigeria in 2021.

He has been standing trial on a seven-count charge bordering on treasonable felony.

In 2017, the federal high court in Abuja granted Kanu bail on the charges filed against him by the federal government.

However, the court revoked the bail and issued a bench warrant for his arrest after he failed to present himself as required.

In April 2022, Binta Nyako, presiding judge, struck out eight of the 15 counts in the charge.

The remaining seven counts were also quashed by the court of appeal on October 13, 2022, with the judge ordering Kanu’s release.

However, on October 28, 2022, the court of appeal granted a stay of execution on its verdict discharging Kanu, after the federal government filed an appeal at the supreme court.