President Muhammadu Buhari says his administration will not facilitate the release of detained Leader of Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu.
Rather, the president said, Kanu will see out his trial before the courts.
President Buhari stated this in an interview aired on Channels Television on Wednesday night.
Recall that a group of Igbo stakeholders led by First Republic Aviation Minister, Mbazulike Amaechi on November 19, 2021, visited the Presidential Villa, Abuja, where they appealed to the president to unconditionally release the leader of the proscribed group.
Responding at the time, the president said would not want to interfere in the running of the judiciary but said he would consider their demand though “a heavy one.”
Read Also: Man caught with human parts in ‘Ghana must go’ bag in Osun
However, during the interview, Buhari said, “There is one institution that I wouldn’t interfere with, that is the judiciary, Kanu’s case is with the judiciary but what I wonder is when Kanu was safely in Europe, abusing this administration and mentioning too many things, I thought he wants to come and defend himself on the accusations.
“So, we are giving him an opportunity to defend himself in our system, not to be abusing us from Europe as if he was not a Nigerian. Let him come here with us and then criticise us here. Nigerians know that I don’t interfere with the judiciary, let him be listened to. But those who are saying that he should be released, no, we cannot release him.”
On possibility of a political solution to Kanu’s situation, the president noted, “There is a possibility of political solution. If people behave themselves, all well and good but you can’t go to a foreign country and keep on sending incorrect economic and security problems (sic) against our country and thinking that you would not account for what you have been doing. Let him (Kanu) account for what he has been doing.”