Kanu, who is facing terrorism charges brought by the Federal Government, was controversially repatriated to Nigeria from Kenya after he jumped bail.
By Deborah Hassan
365Daily – The Senate has rejected a call by some senators to release the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, who has been under detention by the Department of State Services (DSS) since 2021.
Kanu, who is facing terrorism charges brought by the Federal Government, was controversially repatriated to Nigeria from Kenya after he jumped bail.
In a motion raised on Wednesday, Sen. Osita Izunaso (Imo West) urged the Senate to call for the release of Kanu. He was supported by other lawmakers from the south-east.
The motion also asked the Federal Government to collaborate with the government or Finland to extradite Simon Ekpa, an IPOB factional leader based in the country.
His faction is said to be behind the continued violent enforcement of sit-at-home orders every Monday in the South-East.
However, the legislators rejected the call for the release of Kanu, saying the matter was under judicial consideration and could not be deliberated upon, but condemned the weekly sit-at-home orders by IPOB in the South-East.
They, instead, asked the Ministry of Finance to investigate and unveil sponsors of the group after a minister is appointed.
Debating the motion, the senator had appealed to his colleagues to support the release of Kanu, saying it will be an end to the loss of lives and properties in the South-East region.
He lamented that the constant sit-at-home orders is disrupting the academic calendar in the region as students cannot have full hours at school.
“When people are forced to stay at home and businesses remain closed, productivity declines, and income is reduced, thereby affecting livelihoods and economic growth,” Izunaso said.
“The sit-at-home protests continue to lead to acts of violence and clashes with the law enforcement agencies, which have led to uncountable losses of lives of innocent people, security agents and the protesters.
“As this increases, the potential for criminal elements to take advantage of the situation to engage in looting or other unlawful activities while the people stay at home,” he said.