The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has urged President Muhammadu Buhari to reconsider his stance on the release of its detained leader, Nnamdi Kanu.
The group said if Buhari failed to free Kanu, he would be making a mistake capable of affecting Nigeria adversely.
Recall that the President had guaranteed a delegation of Igbo elders that he will consider the IPOB leader’s release which he later rescinded during an interview with Channels TV last week.
IPOB in a statement by its Media and Publicity Secretary, Emma Powerful, accused “foreign-based saboteurs” and enemies of the succession struggle as being responsible for Buhari’s change of mind.
The statement reads, “Our attention has been drawn to a comment by President Muhammadu Buhari that he will not release our Leader, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu.
“We know that this position by Buhari after he had earlier promised a delegation of Igbo leaders that he would consider their appeal to consider a political solution for Kanu, was not unconnected with the visit by some foreign-based traitors and enemies of our struggle.
“Our intelligence captured what transpired in a meeting between these saboteurs and their host in Aso Rock. In the meeting, the saboteurs and traitors concluded with the Presidency that Mazi Nnamdi Kanu should not be released, claiming erroneously that IPOB and ESN have been defeated.
“But, we want to tell Buhari and his cohorts that he is going to make a mistake capable of adversely affecting Nigeria should he fail to release Nnamdi Kanu because these bunch of criminals he had a meeting with was not giving him correct information about IPOB and the ESN outfit.
“Why should the Federal Government be releasing bandits and terrorists wreaking havoc across the country but fail to release freedom seekers.
“The Federal Government should not be deceived by blacklegs and sacked members of the movement who are feeding it with fake information about IPOB and ESN outfit for pecuniary interests.
“IPOB is too big for them to comprehend and they could not fathom IPOB and its operational strategy when they were in IPOB. We don’t want to mention their names.
“The people who visited him promised to help him crush IPOB and ESN but unfortunately they cannot achieve that, actually they will be disappointed.”
