Free Nnamdi Kanu or return him to Kenya, S’East monarch tells Tinubu

2026-02-17 - 15:46

By Johnbosco Agbakwuru A traditional ruler from the South-East on Tuesday appealed to President Bola Tinubu to free the convicted leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, or return him to Kenya, where he was seized from, warning that his continuous detention was fuelling agitation among the youth in the region. The monarch, Dr Lawrence Agubuzu, the Eze Ogbunechendo of Ezema Olo Kingdom, made the appeal directly to the President during the 2026 National Traditional and Religious Leaders Summit on Health held at the State House Conference Centre, Abuja. “Bring this man out. If we don’t want him in Nigeria, return him to Kenya or London, where he was taken from. “Please do something about this. We cannot make progress in this country if we don’t tell ourselves the truth,” Agubuzu told Tinubu. The summit, themed “The Role of Traditional and Religious Leaders in Advancing the Nigeria Health Sector Renewal Investment Initiative,” was convened to deepen community engagement in health sector reforms. It also featured the signing of a compact by traditional and religious leaders committing to champion healthcare delivery within their domains. However, the event took an unexpected turn during the presentation of goodwill messages when Agubuzu, in his address, pressed the President on Kanu’s fate. “I must tell you, Mr. President, that personally I don’t feel very happy because you were not here in the morning when the Ooni of Ife gave the opening remarks and was gingering us to work as one,” he began, referring to the Ooni who had rallied traditional rulers to work as a united national family. The Enugu-based royal father, however, questioned the sincerity of the unity message, alleging that the same monarch was arranging to confer a high traditional honour on Yoruba Nation activist Sunday Igboho, whom he described as Kanu’s counterpart in the South-West. “This same Imperial Majesty is arranging to confer a very high honour on Sunday Igboho, who in my own part of Nigeria and the South-East, we see him as a counterpart of Nnamdi Kanu,” Agubuzu said. “The ball stops on your court. Bring this man out. “If we don’t want him in Nigeria, return him to Kenya or London, where they took him from,” he said, directing his plea to Tinubu. The monarch told the President about what he called a growing restlessness among South-East youths, warning that traditional rulers from the region were losing credibility with their people over the unresolved Kanu issue. “Some of us here are being asked to go and work, but the young people in the South-East are so agitated they can even beat us. “They see us as sell-outs. We come to Abuja; they may think we come to collect money and then we keep quiet,” he said. Kanu, 58, a British-Nigerian activist and founder of the proscribed IPOB, has been at the centre of one of the country’s most drawn-out and politically sensitive legal battles. First arrested in Lagos in October 2015 for treasonable felony over his separatist broadcasts on Radio Biafra, he was arraigned at the Federal High Court in Abuja and spent over a year in detention before Justice Binta Nyako granted him bail in April 2017 on health grounds. However, following a military raid on his Afaraukwu Umuahia home during Operation Python Dance II in September 2017, which led to the deaths of several IPOB members, Kanu jumped bail and fled the country, first to Israel and then to the United Kingdom, from where he intensified his separatist campaign via Radio Biafra and social media. The court subsequently revoked his bail, and the Federal Government proscribed IPOB as a terrorist organisation. In June 2021, the Federal Government announced Kanu’s re-arrest, which authorities said was achieved through inter-agency collaboration. He was subsequently brought back to Nigeria from Kenya in what his legal team and international observers have described as an extraordinary rendition, an extrajudicial transfer without formal extradition proceedings. Kanu’s return drew widespread condemnation, and the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention later concluded that Kanu was “targeted” and called for his release. Interpol, in April 2024, denied any involvement in the arrest. Following his return, Kanu was held in the custody of the Department of State Services in Abuja while his trial continued. Justice Nyako reduced the charges from 15 to seven counts in 2022, and in October of that year, the Court of Appeal discharged him, ruling that the extraordinary rendition invalidated the charges and ordering his release. But the Federal Government appealed the ruling at the Supreme Court, which in December 2023 overturned the appellate court’s decision and ordered Kanu to return to the Federal High Court to face trial. The case was reassigned to Justice James Omotosho, before whom Kanu refused to present a defence, insisting the court lacked jurisdiction over him due to his illegal rendition. The judge repeatedly warned him, but Kanu held firm. On November 20, 2025, Justice Omotosho found Kanu guilty on all seven terrorism counts and sentenced him to life imprisonment, with concurrent terms of 20 years and five years on other counts. A day later, the DSS transferred Kanu to the Sokoto Correctional Centre, over 700 kilometres from Abuja, a move his lawyers described as designed to frustrate his appeal. The court had specified that Kanu should not be remanded at the Kuje Custodial Centre, citing security concerns following past prison breaks at the facility. Kanu has filed multiple motions seeking transfer to a facility closer to Abuja, all of which have been either struck out or adjourned by the court. He filed 22 grounds of appeal against his conviction and currently remains in Sokoto, unrepresented by counsel, and relying on the Legal Aid Council to prosecute his appeal. Meanwhile, the Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Prof. Muhammad Ali Pate, described Tuesday’s summit as the first comprehensive engagement of traditional and religious leaders since the health sector reforms began over two years ago. The event, which spanned three sessions, featured goodwill messages from the World Health Organisation representative in Nigeria, Dr Pavel Ursu; the World Bank Nigeria Country Director, Mathew Verghis; and the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Health, Sen. Banigo Ipalibo Harry. The First Lady, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, delivered the keynote address, urging traditional and religious leaders to help drive the National Community Food Bank Programme, which she said would be rolled out nationwide in April. The compact signing ceremony, subtitled “Crowning the Compact,” was anchored on three objectives. They include: building awareness of the President’s health reform vision among community leaders, strengthening their role in promoting transparency and accountability in healthcare delivery, and securing their strategic partnership for locally grounded implementation of the reforms. Statements of commitment were delivered by traditional and religious leaders including the Shehu of Borno, the Olowo of Owo, the Emir of Bade, the CAN President, the Deputy President General of the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs, and Bishop Matthew Hassan Kukah of the Catholic Diocese of Sokoto. The summit also featured the launch of the second cohort of the National Health Fellows programme and the arrival of President Tinubu, who delivered presidential remarks at the afternoon session. Vanguard News