The Southern and Middle Belt Leaders’ Forum, or SMBLF, has urged for Nnamdi Kanu, a pro-Biafra activist, to be released.
The SMBLF said that Kanu’s extended detention was a clear example of the federal government’s double standards.
Kanu’s continued incarceration and prosecution, according to the organization, is provocative, while Boko Haram terrorists receive preferential treatment.
After a meeting in Abuja, the leaders of Yoruba’s Afenifere, Igbo’s Ohanaeze Ndigbo, the Middle Belt Forum, and the Pan Niger Delta Forum jointly endorsed a communiqué.
“The continued detention and trial of Nnamdi Kanu on terrorism and treasonable felony charges while known Boko Haram terrorists are given VIP treatment and hosted in Government Houses is not only provocative and perfidious, but also a bizarre double standard on the part of the Nigerian State,” the communique reads in part.
“In the national interest, we urge Nnamdi Kanu’s immediate release, as well as an end to any further persecution of Sunday Igboho, who is now on conditional parole in the Benin Republic.”
Kanu has been locked up by the Department of State Services, DSS, since June 2021.