Ohanaeze youths warn that arresting Kanu again may cause instability

Bayo Wahab 21:46 - 31 March 2019

Nnamdi Kanu, pictured in 2017 in the garden of his house in Umuahia, southeast Nigeria, disappeared later that year while on bail, later re-emerging first in Jerusalem, then Britain

The youth wing of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Ohanaeze Ndigbo Youth Council, has warned the Federal Government that arresting the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu again might destabilize the peace in Southeast.

The youth gave the warning following a Federal High Court sitting in Abuja ordered the re-arrest of Kanuon Thursday, March 28, 2019.

The presiding judge, Binta Nyako revoked the bail granted Kanu in 2017 and also issued an arrest warrant against the IPOB leader.

However, in a statement jointly signed by Okechukwu Isiguzoro and Okwu Nnabuike, its president-general and secretary general respectively, the youth council pleaded with President Muhammadu Buhari to intervene and grant “presidential pardon” to Kanu, the Cable reports.

Nnamdi Kanu arguing with prison warden in Abuja. (Vanguard)

The statement reads: “The leadership of Ohanaeze Ndigbo Youth Council Worldwide received the pronouncement and re-arrest order of IPOB leader, Nnamdi Kanu, by a Federal High Court in Abuja with rude shock and disbelief,” the statement read.

“Weighing the implications of such action, it may destabilize the fragile peace that has returned to the southern part of Nigeria, especially the South-East and South-South after the sad experiences witnessed during his first arrest and subsequently the untimely death of innocent Igbo youths and women that characterised his first arrest and detention.

“And there is no need to escalate the tension already established in the South-East over the menace of herdsmen ravaging parts of Igboland. There is no need to compound our loss by allowing Nnamdi Kanu to return now until Igbo Christians and Traditional leaders intervene in the process.

“We are pleading with President Buhari as the father of the nation to grant a presidential pardon to Nnamdi Kanu, as a way of showing compassion to Ndigbo.’’