Nnamdi Kanu’s Detention: Sowore Claims Nigeria Faces an Igbo Issue
Omoyele Sowore, the African Action Congress (AAC) presidential candidate from the 2023 elections, has asserted that the ongoing detention of Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), highlights a broader issue between Nigeria and the Igbo people.
In a recent interview with Rudolf Okonkwo on 90Minutes Africa, Sowore argued that Kanu represents the lingering repercussions of post-civil war treatment of the Igbo community. “Nigeria has an Igbo issue. It’s like a dying father asking his children to carry on with a problem related to the Igbo,” he remarked.
Kanu, who was out on bail facing terrorism charges when he fled Nigeria in 2017 following a military raid on his home, was arrested in Kenya on June 27, 2021, with the help of Interpol and Nigerian officials. He was subsequently returned to Nigeria in what many called extraordinary rendition.
On October 22, 2022, the Abuja Court of Appeal deemed his extradition unlawful and ordered his immediate release. Despite this ruling, the Nigerian government chose to keep him in custody and appealed to the Supreme Court. Although the Supreme Court acknowledged the illegality of Kanu’s extradition, it ruled that this alone was insufficient to secure his release, allowing his detention to continue.
Currently, Kanu remains imprisoned by the Department of State Services (DSS) and is facing seven terrorism-related charges in Federal High Court.
Sowore, who has faced his own detentions by the DSS, expressed disappointment that President Bola Tinubu did not take immediate action to release Kanu. “I anticipated that Tinubu’s first move in office would be to free Nnamdi Kanu. The situation worsening suggests a deeper conspiracy,” he noted.
He also criticized some Igbo elites for their complicity in Kanu’s continued detention, claiming they delayed discussions about his release until after the election. “Now, it seems that external forces are even more involved,” he added.
Sowore expressed skepticism about Kanu receiving justice within Nigeria’s judicial framework, arguing that the president exerts significant influence over the system. “Kanu has become the political prisoner of the current president. His situation is reported to the president daily,” he said. “There’s little chance for justice unless the state decides to let him go.”
