The Coalition of Northern Groups (CNG) has said that it is especially alarmed by the renewed pressure from the Ndigbo to secure the unconditional release of the leader of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Mazi Nnamdi Kanu from lawful custody, describing him as a “terror group leader”.

CNG, in a statement signed by its Spokesperson, Abdul-Azeez Suleiman, noted that the calls for Kanu’s release without trial by Ndigbo leaders and groups have grown louder since the February 15 Presidential election and the consequent emergence of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu as President-elect.

“Of recent, groups such as the Ohanaeze Ndigbo has joined in the campaign of blackmail using Kanu’s release as a precondition for Ndigbo cooperation with the incoming Tinubu administration which they never voted for and are in no way material to its victory at the polls.

“We note also that this blatant for constitutionalism and criminal justice procedure by the Ohanaeze and other authors of mindless violence and separatism that is pushing Nigeria to the precipice, is solidly supported morally and politically by the vast majority of the pliant and affrighted Igbo elites, politicians, traditional rulers, business persons, and the larger population of this ethnic group.

“CNG notes that, having failed to achieve the Igbo’s nefarious objective by massively wasting their votes in the promotion of the Peter Obi destructive agenda at the polls, long-practiced tactics are now being played out in the form of blackmail in the hope of intimidating the incoming administration into submitting to its diabolical scheme of subverting the rule of law and undermining the criminal justice system.

“Today everyone can see the blatant display of arrogant irresponsibility by the likes of the Ohanaeze Ndigbo and other Southeast leaders in seeking the release of Kanu not minding the hundreds of innocent lives of Nigerians of non-Igbo extraction, hundreds of security personnel killed and national security assets destroyed at the instance of his campaign of hate and incitement.

“By their actions, the Ndigbo leaders and other groups of mindless authors of violence and mayhem have displayed the height of insensitivity to the lives of other Nigerians outside the Igbo enclave who whose killings were engineered by Kano”, the Coalition stated.

The northern groups itemized the Coalition’s observation, saying that “It is curious at this critical turning point for Ohanaeze and other Ndigbo leaders and collaborators to resurrect the calls for the release of a culprit who since 2016 has been responsible for the unrelenting disturbances created in the South-East and across the country in the form of a violent agitation for a separate State of Biafra.

“It is important to point out here that the embers of the current violent Biafran agitation were ignited and incessantly fanned into a raging fire by the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) under Nnamdi Kanu supported by other authors of mindless violence who see it as their duty to actualise the task started by their fathers in 1966, of bringing about the realisation of a separate State of Biafra through the force of arms and terrorist tactics.

“It is curious for Ohanaeze to seek to abort the trial of felon who over the years committed several unreasonable and unacceptable actions against the Nigerians state, and in particular, against people from other sections of the country.

“It is impossible not to remember the unprovoked evictions, attacks and killings of people of other regions in various parts of the South that resulted from the hate campaigns and propaganda being conducted by Nnamdi Kanu and other regional and ethnic agitators relentlessly pursuing this agenda of destruction and collective mayhem, fervently hope it will engulf the entire country and bring about another civil war and mass killings and suffering of innocent people.

“It is ridiculous that Ohanaeze should expect any responsible government to condone the mindless violence, insistent drive towards civil strife in the country and extremist terrorist actions perpetrated by IPOB on the clear instructions of Nnamdi Kanu.

“Ohanaeze’s call for Kanu’s release without trial has deepened the conviction that the determination of the Ndgbo to keep on causing widespread disturbances and terror in Nigeria is now real and cannot be avoided or deferred any longer without terrible consequences”,the CNG observed.

7-point Resolution

In its 7-pont resolution, the CNG, noted that “as always, not one to fold our arms and watch as things that potentially threaten the peace of the country go unchecked, hereby resolves to:

“1. Condemn with all our might the renewed calls for the undue termination of the trial of Nnamdi Kanu by Ohanaeze and other Ndigbo leaders and groups as insane, unreasonable, unwarranted, thoughtless and unrealistic.

“2. To reiterate our calls on the federal authorities to disregard such unpatriotic calls and remain resolute in seeing the prosecution of Kanu to its logical conclusion so as not to set the bad precedence of regional leaders interfering with the course of justice by helping criminals to evade the law.

“3. To alert the incoming administration of Bola Tinubu on the dangers of falling for the antics of the Ndigbo that are aimed at causing mishaps and unnecessary devastation and driving Nigeria over the brink into a catastrophe.

“4. To specifically invite the attention of the incoming President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to remain vigilant as to the direction the country is headed so as to avoid the type of mistake committed by the late President Shehu Shagari in granting unconditional state pardon to the initiator of the Biafra project, Odumegwu Ojukwu which has proved counterproductive.

“5. He should bear in mind that the bulk majority of Kanu’s casualties are from the North, the region from where he extracted the bulk of his winning votes.

“6. We remind him of the moral consequences of falling to the trap of the Ndigbo of the South-East from where he secured very insignificant support at the expense of his true friends and allies in the North who bear the brunt of the atrocities perpetrated by Kanu.

“7. Instead, the President should remain resolute in ensuring the diligent prosecution of Kanu, his sponsors, backers and collaborators in the heinous crimes against the Nigerian state and innocent Nigerian citizens.

“In order to prevent a descent into anarchy at this day and age, and to forestall mass killings, untold sufferings and atrocities, the federal government must not acede to the current pressure by Ohanaeze and its ilk to secure the unconditional release of the leader of a group that has been duely proscribed as terrorist”, CNG Spokesperson, Abdul-Azeez Suleiman, said.

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