Abia South Senator, Enyinnaya Abaribe, says he would stand as the guarantor should President Bola Ahmed Tinubu release Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB.
Abaribe spoke while addressing journalists after his visit to Governor Alex Otti of Enugu State on Monday.
Kanu remains incarcerated since June 2021 when he was arrested in Kenya and taken to Nigeria.
Upon his return to Nigeria, the Appeal Court in Abuja ordered his release but the Nigerian government refused to let him off the hook.
The Senator He also urged President Bola Tinubu to listen to the Attorney General of the Federation, Lateef Fagbemi and other stakeholders over their calls to release Kanu.
Abaribe informed Tinubu that releasing Kanu would put a stop to the issue of criminalities in the Southeast.
He said: “I expect that the President will listen to both his Attorney General and every one of us who have been agitating that the issues in the Southeast; first of all the insurgency, the sit-at-home on Mondays and every other thing we have noticed in the Southeast, what we now know in the Southeast is that criminals and all other people who advocate violence have taken over and using the name Nnamdi Kanu to perpetuate all these their despicable acts.
“We know that the President, being a listening President, will also look at all the issues involved which we have presented to him from various mediums and that he will do the needful and release Nnamdi Kanu so that it will put a stop to all these things that are happening in the Southeast and bring back the Southeast as the hub of production in Nigeria.
“So he needs Nnamdi Kanu out so that all those things that are holding us down in the Southeast, that have made us not produce as much as we ought to produce, will not be there.
“So, we continue to call on President Tinubu to release Nnamdi Kanu and we are ready and willing to be guarantors for him to be released so that we can have life coming back into the Southeast and take it away from the criminals, kidnappers, the cultists and dangerous elements that are floating around us who have made it a point that they would perpetrate violence, do criminal activities and use Nnamdi Kanu’s name as their reason.
“I expect that the President will listen to both his Attorney General and every one of us who have been agitating about the issues in the Southeast. First of all, the insurgency, the sit-at-home on Mondays, and every other thing we have noticed in the Southeast.
“What we now know in the Southeast is that criminals and all other people who advocate violence have taken over and are using the name of Nnamdi Kanu to perpetrate all these despicable acts.
Abaribe also bared his mind on the discussions about the Tax Reform Bills currently before the National Assembly.
He said: “The President wants to pass a Tax Bill that has to do with production. You cannot tax people who don’t produce. So, he needs Nnamdi Kanu out so that all those things that are holding us down in the Southeast, that have made us not to produce as much as we ought to produce, will not be there.
“So, we continue to call on President Tinubu to release Nnamdi Kanu. We are ready and willing to be the guarantors for him to be released so that we can have life coming back into the Southeast and take it away from the criminals, kidnappers, the cultists and dangerous elements that are floating around us, those who have made it a point that they would perpetrate violence, do criminal activities and use Nnamdi Kanu’s name as their reason.”
Explaining why he visited Governor Otti, who is not a member of his political party, Abaribe, who is the Chairman of the Southeast Senators’ Forum, said he and the governor discussed issues of governance in the state.
Abaribe said: “Even though my party is the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) and his party is Labour (LP), we feel that we have gone beyond party, and we are now at the point of governance. So, I came to encourage him. He’s done so well and we wanted to make sure that we continue to inspire him to do much more for the people of Abia State.
“Let me say this: I come from Aba; he has done tremendously well in infrastructure, the whole infrastructure in Aba. I have driven around; I have seen everything.
“All I want to do is to continue to encourage him to continue in the path that he has chosen. We also agreed that we are going to come around to commission some of the projects that he has done in and around my senatorial zone.
“I think a second tenure is still very far away. But I do not see any stumbling block on the way, if we go by what he has done.”
