Igbo religious leaders make fresh demand on Nnamdi Kanu’s release 

By Ori Martins

A group known as The  Coalition of Concerned Igbo Religious Leaders has made a fresh demand calling for the immediate release of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu. The group made up of Christian, Traditional and Interfaith bodies, in a release in Owerri regretted that “The forces that twisted Aburi Accord thereby making the civil war and its attendant tragedies ever since then possible, are still at work”.  

Comprising bishops, pastors, priests traditional spiritual leaders, in a release through its leader, Rev Tony Uzor Anthony, noted that things were dangerously getting out of hand in the country.

According to Uzor, “It is absolutely not acceptable that Kanu is still behind bars even after all those arrested alongside him from the other tribes of the country had been released. For the records, no specific criminal incident by Kanu or IPOB has ever been proved against the Biafran agitator. Every accusation against him was social media induced. In fact, at a time, the courts freed him. But the authorities never allowed him to walk home to enjoy his freedom. He was rearrested and sentenced. This is not how justice is dispensed in a democracy”.

The group wondered under what subsisting Nigerian law did Justice James Omotosho deliver the November 20,2025 conviction of Kanu. It argued that the proscription of IPOB, the arrest, trial and conviction of Kanu were hinged on statues many of which have been repealed or whose application has challenged on jurisdictional or fair hearing grounds.

Uzor stated that it was the view of the Igbo religious leaders that with what is currently playing out in the country, the forces that twisted Aburi Accord were at work. He said, “The same forces that twisted the Aburi Accord in 1967 are at work again today. The method is identical: take an agreement or a defensive initiative born out of necessity, distort it through propaganda and blame the victim for the ensuing crisis”.

He added; “In 1967, the Aburi Accord in Ghana produced a clear understanding that Nigeria must be restructured  on a confederal basis to guarantee regional autonomy. Yet, the Federal Government of Nigeria through deliberate distortion eventually referred that document as Ojukwu’s  ultimatum for war. The result was a major conflict that cost many Igbo lives.

“Today, history repeats itself with precision. These allegations of Igbo communities being attacked by Fulani herders and other brutal killings in the South East are agony reminders of the pogrom in 1966 that took over 50,000 Igbo lives. What happened in 1966 against Ndigbo in 1966 is now taking place against them in 2016 in those domain”!

The Igbo religious leaders therefore called on the Federal Government of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to do what is right by releasing Kanu. Uzor explained that the continued detention of Kanu is another form of Igbo marginalization which successive governments have meted usually meted out on Ndigbo since 1966.

Uzor urged Igbo political leaders, particularly the governors and the National Assembly members to work harmoniously in fashioning ways through which the Igbo Nation would no longer be taken for granted by the federal forces during times of infrastructural disbursement or allocation. He called on them to challenge the Federal Government on the continued detention of Kanu and do their best to effect his release.