Rights Activist Calls For Release Of Nnamdi Kanu

A human rights advocate and Global Peace Ambassador, Emeka Kalu, has appealed to President Bola Tinubu to order the immediate and unconditional release of the detained leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu.

In a letter addressed to the President Tinubu, Kalu described Kanu’s prolonged detention as “an open wound on Nigeria’s conscience and a test of the nation’s commitment to justice and equality before the law.”

Kalu reminded the Federal Government that Mazi Nnamdi Kanu has never been convicted of any violent offence or act resulting in loss of life, stressing that his activism, though controversial, has always been rooted in the pursuit of justice, equity, and self-determination values enshrined in the United Nations Charter.

He expressed deep concern that while armed insurgents and terrorists who have taken lives and destroyed communities have been granted amnesty under various government reconciliation programmes, Kanu who has not been found guilty of any violent act remains in custody under what he termed “inhumane and unlawful conditions.”

“This selective justice only deepens national disunity and weakens faith in the rule of law,” Kalu stated. “True reconciliation cannot exist in the absence of fairness.”

The Abia-born peace advocate warned that if the Federal Government continued to ignore calls for Kanu’s release, he would mobilize Nigerians in the diaspora, particularly Igbos, to organize peaceful demonstrations across Washington D.C., the United Kingdom, and other major international cities.

According to him, these protests would not be acts of defiance but expressions of democratic rights aimed at drawing global attention to what he described as “the injustice of selective detention and political persecution.”

Kalu appealed directly to President Tinubu’s sense of history and leadership, noting that his decision on Kanu’s case could either heal or further divide the country.

“Nigeria cannot progress while the cries of injustice echo across its land,” he wrote. “The release of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu will symbolize a new dawn, a gesture of peace, unity, and reconciliation that the world will remember.”

Kalu concluded his letter by urging the President to rise above political sentiments and act as a statesman, asserting that history will remember Tinubu more kindly if he chooses justice and compassion over vengeance and division.