South East Senators to Meet AGF Over Nnamdi Kanu

Detained Biafra separatist leader, Nnamdi Kanu, may soon be released from federal custody.

South-East senators are planning to meet with Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Prince Lateef Fagbemi, SAN, today to advocate for his release. 

Led by Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe, the senators will convey their plea to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu through the AGF. Sources confirmed to DAILY POST that the meeting will be held at the AGF’s Conference Hall in Abuja at 10 am.

The source said that the meeting is a follow up to an earlier request made by about 50 House of Representatives members seeking forgiveness for Kanu.

Uchenna Awom, a Special Assistant on media to Senator Abaribe confirmed the new move to journalists on Tuesday in Abuja.

On June 23, about 50 members of the House of Representatives had begged President Bola Tinubu to order the release of Kanu.

The federal lawmakers, who identified themselves as “Concerned Federal Lawmakers for Peace and Security in the South East”, asked Tinubu to direct the AGF to invoke Section 174 of the 1999 Constitution to terminate criminal charges against Kanu and release him.

Similarly, Obi Aguocha, a House of Representatives member representing Ikwuano, Umuahia North and South Federal Constituency, had sought the support of former President Muhammadu Buhari for the release of Kanu.

Aguocha, who visited Buhari on Saturday at his country home in Daura, Katsina, was said to have apologised on behalf of Kanu for his “missteps and ill gestures”.

The lawmaker was also said to have argued that a political resolution would address the concerns of the aggrieved parties and promote unity within the country in respect of Kanu’s matter.

DAILY POST was reliably informed that apart from making a case for the release of the leader of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), the Abaribe team would also persuade the Federal Government through the AGF to drop the terrorism charges against Kanu.

Senator Abaribe had stood surety for Kanu in the sum of N100m when he was first arrested and charged with terrorism offences by the federal government at the Federal High Court in Abuja.

The Senator, however, ran into stormy waters when Kanu jumped the bail and fled the country on the ground that the military invaded his ancestral home in Abia State with a view to kill him.

While an arrest warrant was issued by the Federal High Court against him for his arrest, the government of Nigeria intercepted him in Kenya and brought him to the country in 2021.

Kanu has since 2021 been remanded at the Department of State Services, DSS, custody following the fresh terrorism charges filed against him.

Also, a former Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Kanu Godwin Agabi and Chief Mike Ozekhome, both Senior Advocate of Nigeria had pleaded with the federal government to forgive Kanu and order his release from custody.

DAILY POST