FG wasting resources on Kanu’s continued detention –Lawyer

A popular lawyer, Chief Iloegbuna Okoye, has urged the Federal Government to release the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, and ‘stop wasting the nation’s resources on his continued detention’.

Okoye, an Anambra State-based legal practitioner, who spoke to newsmen in Abakaliki, the Ebonyi State capital, alleged that the federal government spends N500 million each time Kanu is taken to court, describing it as humongous expenses.

He, therefore, urged the President Bola Tinubu administration to release the IPOB leader and avoid playing politics with the matter, unlike the past administration he accused of playing politics with the Kanu case. Okoye enjoined Igbo leaders and the Ohanaeze Ndigbo to aggregate force around Kanu for a political solution that would lead to his freedom.

“It’s unfortunate that Buhari played politics with Nnamdi Kanu’s issue. We are looking at President Bola Tinubu not to, also, play politics with it. Tinubu is also a human rights crusader; he was part of the campaign for the entrenchment of democracy during the military era, and I expect that having fought for the downtrodden before he became the governor of Lagos State, and now the president, he should be in a better position to appreciate that what is happening around the detention of Nnamdi Kanu is not good.

“Recent development has also shown that DSS is making money from the detention of Nnamdi Kanu, and I call on the federal government to investigate that issue. According to a DSS source, each time they bring Nnamdi Kanu to court the federal government spends N500 million, which means that if he goes to court twice in a month, we spend N1 billion. Is it worth it? If it isn’t worth it, why should we continue to incur such humongous expenses to keep a person who naturally is innocent, considering the circumstances of his arrest and detention?

“Federal government should stop the foolishness and look deep into Kanu’s matter. There will be compromise. I also call upon Ohanaeze Ndigbo to aggregate forces around Nnamdi Kanu, so that the political solution that is required of this matter would be attained.

Our political leaders and Ohanaeze Ndigbo should look into this matter and see that the young man is released unconditionally.

“It’s an alleged treasonable felony, but it’s not murder; it’s not kidnapping and it’s not manslaughter. So, whatever the situation it is, he is entitled to bail and that is my position”, he stated.