President Mohammadu Buhari has insisted that the leader of Indigenous People of Biafra, (IPOB) Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, must account for his utterances despite pleas for notable leaders from the zone for his release.
Igbo Elders had suggested that Buhari considers a political solution in Kanu’s case, but the president ruled out the possibility of such in this matter.
He disclosed this on Wednesday in an interview aired on Channels Television which was monitored by our correspondent.
Commenting on the trial of the IPOB leader during the interview, the President said there’s a possibility of political solution only when people behave themselves, “but you can’t go to a foreign country and continues sending a false information about the economy and security of the country thinking you will never account for it. Let him account for what he has been doing.
“But what I wonder is, when Kanu was safely in Europe abusing this administration and mentioning too many things, I never thought really he want to come and defend himself on accusations he made.
“So we are giving him an opportunity to defend himself in our system, not to be abusing us from Europe as if he wasn’t a Nigerian. Let him come down here with us and criticise us here. Nigerians know I don’t interfere with the media, so let him go and defend himself. Those who are saying we should release him, no we can’t releases him.”
Kanu is facing charges bordering on treasonable felony instituted against him in response to years of the campaign for the Republic of Biafra through IPOB.
In November 2021, south-east traditional and religious leaders had asked the president to grant amnesty to Kanu to deescalate tension in the zone.