Civil rights advocacy group, Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria, has tackled South-East governors for their alleged “conspiratorial silence” over the ordeal of the detained leader of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra, Nnamdi Kanu.
National Coordinator of HURIWA, Emmanuel Onwubiko, in a statement on Monday, also alleged that the governors in the zone abandoned a joint security vigilante named Ebube Agu inaugurated in April.
The security outfit had been set up by the five governors in the zone — Okezie Ikpeazu (Abia), Willie Obiano (Anambra), Dave Umahi (Ebonyi), Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi (Enugu), and Hope Uzodinma (Imo).
Reacting to the claim by HURIWA, Francis Nwaze, a media aide to the Chairman of the South-East Governors’ Forum, Dave Umahi, told The PUNCH in a telephone interview on Monday that Ebube Agu has been functional in the zone.
Nwaze, however, did not respond to the allegation of the abandonment of Kanu, who has been in the custody of the Department of State Services since the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami (SAN), announced on June 29, 2021, that the IPOB leader was arrested in a foreign country and extradited to Nigeria.
Kanu, who was born on September 25, 1967, is from Abia State. He had earlier jumped bail in June 2018 before leaving for the United Kingdom though he said that he fled because his life was no longer safe in Nigeria.
Upon his re-arrest and extradition in June 2021, he was re-arraigned before Justice Binta Nyako for terrorism-related charges and has since been remanded in the custody of the Department of State Services in Abuja. Kanu’s trial has been adjourned till October 21, 2021.
9Naija 