Elder statesman and industrialist, Chike Obidigbo, has stated that President Bola Tinubu is not responsible for the detention of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), News About Nigeria reports.
Obidigbo said that Kanu’s case is purely a security issue and urged Igbo politicians to stop politicising the call for his release, arguing that their actions are worsening the situation.
In a statement released on Sunday, July 7, in Awka, Anambra State, Obidigbo expressed dismay over how some Igbo political elites are handling the popular demand for Kanu’s release.
He noted that their overzealous actions are driven by ignorance and self-interest, rather than genuine concern.
Obidigbo called for quiet diplomacy to achieve a political solution for Kanu’s release, cautioning against the politicisation of the issue.
“I woke up this morning with a very heavy heart. I am constrained to say that I am not comfortable with the way and manner our political elites are going about their request for the release of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu. The sense I make of the cheap scramble by Igbo politicians to be identified in the growing calls for Mazi Nnamdi Kanu’s freedom from prolonged and unjust incarceration is that they are merely playing to the gallery,” Obidigbo stated.
Obidigbo argued that President Tinubu, as well as former President Muhammadu Buhari and past Attorneys General of the Federation, are not entirely responsible for holding Kanu.
He stressed that Kanu’s case is a security issue, involving the National Security Adviser (NSA), Nuhu Ribadu, and that the President’s influence is limited in this matter.
Furthermore, Obidigbo pointed out that the British government also played a huge role in blocking Kanu’s freedom, accusing them of prioritising their economic interests in Nigeria over justice for their citizens.
He claimed that Britain joined an international conspiracy to lure Kanu to Kenya, where he was kidnapped and forcibly renditioned to Nigeria.
“What Britain did was to join in the international conspiracy to lure Kanu to Kenya, knowing that Africans lack integrity and respect for laws. They then got him kidnapped in Kenya and forcibly and illegally renditioned him to Nigeria. They could not have done that in any other part of the world, outside of Africa, without extreme repercussions and consequences. Such can only happen in Africa, and they knew that much,” Obidigbo stated.
Obidigbo criticised the British High Commission in Nigeria for showing no interest in addressing the violent kidnapping and rendition of Kanu and accused them of only being interested in Kanu renouncing his dream of a Biafra.
