THE Yoruba socio-cultural organisation, Afenifere, led by Ayo Adebanjo, has called on President Bola Tinubu to immediately release the detained leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu.
Afenifere called on Tinubu to release Nnamdi Kanu in a communiqué signed by its deputy leader, Oba Oladipo Olaitan.
The group described Kanu, leader of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), as a political detainee whose continued detention was unjustified.
The decision followed a meeting at Adebanjo’s residence in Ogun State on Tuesday, January 28.
According to the regional body, Kanu’s fair trial is no longer guaranteed due to the courts conflicting and controversial legal proceedings against him.
It argued that the IPOB leader’s detention without trial was unreasonable, given the circumstances surrounding his case, including his abduction in 2021 and repatriation to Nigeria.
“In the interest of justice and national reconciliation, Afenifere urges President Tinubu to release Nnamdi Kanu forthwith. There is no justifiable reason to continue to keep him in detention without trial,” part of the communiqué read.
At the meeting, Afenifere also announced the appointment of human rights activist Dele Farotimi as its new national organising secretary.
Farotimi’s appointment came barely 24 hours after a legal luminary, Afe Babalola, agreed to drop a defamatory suit filed against him.
Recall that Babalola had dragged Farotimi to court for allegedly defaming him in his book titled ‘Nigeria and Its Criminal Justice System’.
Meanwhile, at the meeting, Afenifere sounded the alarm on the state of insecurity in Nigeria, saying it was as bad as it was under the previous administration led by Muhammadu Buhari.
It called on the president to take serious action to protect the lives and property of people in the nation.
The group recalled the recent warning from Oyo State Governor Seyi Makinde about an influx of bandits as an example of why something needed to be done about insecurity.
Afenifere said Nigeria’s vast territory, population, and federal structure made it impossible to secure the country effectively with a single unitary police command, which it said made restructuring and state police imperative.
The meeting was attended by delegates from the South West, Kogi, and Kwara states, including Kofoworola Bucknor Akerele, Sola Ebiseni, and Akin Onigbinde, among others.
A reporter with the ICIR
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