Chukwuma Soludo, governor of Anambra, has called on the federal government to release Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).
Soludo said this on Saturday during the campaign flag-off of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) in Awka, the Anambra capital.
He said Kanu is critical to the security conversation in the south-east and is needed at the table to discuss the future of the region.
He added that if the federal government cannot release Kanu unconditionally, he will stand as surety to ensure Kanu is available whenever needed.
“We thank the federal government of Nigeria. We thank President Muhammadu Buhari for the Second Niger Bridge; we thank him for the Enugu-Onitsha expressway; we thank him for other infrastructural developments. We also thank him for the support he has been giving to security agencies in helping us fight insecurity in the south-east,” the governor said.
“But here is the big one, as the security people say, we need kinetic and non-kinetic approaches to solve this problem. We thank you for all the kinetic in terms of the force.
“We have also inaugurated the truth, justice and peace committee in Anambra to get to the root causes, immediate and remote causes of the insecurity in the south-east and that commission is completing its work.
“We are also engaging the youths and also implementing various forms of non-kinetic engagements, but it is now time for the federal government to help us with the last leg of this non-kinetic approach.
“We now need all the major stakeholders in the security project in the south-east to come around the table for us to discuss the security and prosperity of the south-east.
“I now want to appeal and plead and request and demand of the federal government and our able President Buhari that a critical person required around that table for that conversation to be complete, for us to have an all-round approach to dealing with the issue of insecurity and discussing about the future of the southeast – that person, and we need him urgently around the table, please release him to us.
“And that is Nnamdi Kanu. I’m calling on the federal government to please release Nnamdi Kanu. We’re calling on him to please release Nnamdi Kanu. We need him around the table because we believe that we now want to have a comprehensive heart-to-heart conversation on the future of the south-east, about the future, security and prosperity of the south-east. No one should be left behind, everybody should be there.
“If we cannot release him unconditionally as requested by the court judgment and so on, I now offer to be the surety, release him to me. Release him to me, release Nnamdi Kanu to me.
“I will keep him; I will provide him shelter; and anytime that you need him, we will bring him to you. Give him to me and we will house him here in Awka. Release him, let us bring this insecurity in the south-east to an end.”
