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The youth wing of the apex Igbo socio-cultural organisation, Ohanaeze Ndigbo Youth Council (OYC), has praised the decision of the United Nations (UN), in which the Federal Government was asked to release Nnamdi Kanu, the detained leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) unconditionally.
According to reports which had gone viral last weekend, the United Nations Human Rights Council Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, indicted both Nigerian and Kenyan governments for the arrest and extraordinary rendition, torture and continued detention of Kanu without due process.
The UN demanded that Nigerian government should immediately release the IPOB leader unconditionally and pay him compensations for violating his human rights.
Prior to the UN’s decision, OYC had said there was no justification for the continuous detention of Kanu, whereas bandits are being celebrated.
In a statement made available to journalists by the National President of OYC, Mazi Okwu Nnabuike, the group said the UN decision had vindicated its earlier stand on the incarceration of the IPOB leader.
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Also, IPOB has demanded for immediate release of Kanu from the custody of the Department of State Services (DSS) in Abuja, following alleged threats from terrorists to take over Abuja.
The group expressed worry over sudden closure of all public schools in Abuja because of the threats from terrorists, saying Kanu’s life is in danger.
In a statement, yesterday, the IPOB Media and Publicity Secretary, Emma Powerful, reminded Federal Government that the UN right group had warned that if anything untoward happens to Kanu, it would be disastrous to Nigeria, and IPOB is ready to carry this order to the letter.
The statement reads: ‘The attention of IPOB has been drawn to the sudden closure of all public schools in Abuja because of threats from terrorists to take over Abuja and the entire country; IPOB, therefore, demands the immediate release of Kanu from DSS custody in Abuja.’
In a related development, the Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA), yesterday, criticised the judiciary for refusing to grant bail to Kanu, but granting bail to other public office holders accused of stealing N109 billion public funds.
HURIWA, in a statement by its National Coordinator, Emmanuel Onwubiko, lamented that the dispensation of criminal justice in the country is skewed such that Southerners are treated as outcast, whereas Northern Muslims are treated as sacred cows.
He said: ‘It would seem that large scale corruption, as alleged by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), against former Federal Government officials means nothing to the judiciary only because the accused are of the right tribal and religious group, but UN’s directive to free Kanu seems to be ignored.’
