Civil Liberties Organisation (CLO) South-East zone yesterday asked for an unconditional release of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, leader of Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), adding that his continued detention is uncalled for.
In a statement read by the zonal Chairman, Comrade Aloysius Emeka Attah, during its quarterly review management committee meeting, it said it has been one year and six months since the arrest and detention of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) on October14 2015.
CLO South-East further asked for the release of other prominent members of the group also detained including Benjamin Madubugwu, David Nwawuisi, Chidiebere Onwudiwe and many others languishing in custody.
CLO statement reads in part: “The agitation for an independent state of Biafra was borne out of the scars of the past (events that led to the Nigeria- Biafra Civil war and its aftermath) which are yet to be addressed till today and the long term marginalisation of some sections of the country.
“Government using the instruments of coercion instead of working towards addressing the anomalies chose the option of force in quelling such agitations and that is one area they will continue to get it wrong.
Experience the world over has shown that the use of force in quelling such agitations emboldens the proponents to wax stronger in their zeal. The more they are killed, the more their spirits gingered to forge ahead.
“Mr President had in a Presidential media chat sometimes ago literally convicted Nnamdi Kanu on air for acts bordering on terrorism even without verifiable facts or allowing the lawyers and the judges to do their work in the court.
But it is a settled fact that agitations for self-determination or rights of the people to existence are recognised globally in so far as the proponents doesn’t use or advocate violence to achieve their goals.
“The Nigerian Government in 1993 signed and ratified the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights of 1976 whose Article 1 provided the Citizens Rights to Self Determination, so also Article 20 of the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights of 1981 ratified and domesticated by Nigeria in 1983.
Source – The Authority
