An Anambra State-based human rights organisation, the International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law, on Sunday, urged the Federal Government not to allow Nnamdi Kanu to die in custody.
Kanu, who is the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, has been in solitary confinement at the detention facility of the Department of State Services since June 2021.
Recently, Kanu’s brother claimed that the embattled IPOB leader was seriously ill and need urgent medical treatment that required immediate surgery. He also alleged that DSS is starving him of food.
But addressing a press conference in Enugu on Sunday, Intersociety advised the apex government to ensure Kanu does not die in custody because of its consequence.
Flanked by the principal officers and members of the Governing Board of Intersociety, the Board Chair, Chief Emeka Umeagbalasi, advised the federal government to start reconciling with aggrieve citizens of the country to douse tensions in the country instead of holding Kanu in detention.
While also calling for the release of all other pro-Biafra agitators held in various detention facilities without trial, he said that if Nnamdi Kanu dies in the government’s hands, the consequences would be “far-reaching”.
“Nnamdi Kanu must not die in detention. The DSS has the capacity to give medical treatment either in Nigeria or outside Nigeria. The consequences of dying in detention will be far-reaching.”
“The federal government should also release all other pro-Biafra agitators held in various detention centres across the country. As a government that will soon wound up it should start making amend and use the political solutions in addressing the issue of pro-Biafra agitation.”
Speaking on 2023 general elections and insecurity in the South-East, Intersociety called for the removal of 1500 military checkpoints and 4000 police checkpoints in Eastern Nigeria comprising the South-East and South-South.
Lamenting the economic, social and security implications, Intersociety said, “those checkpoints have been converted to extortion points.”
They also called for 60 per cent of senior security officers of non-eastern origin and replace them with officers of eastern origin who understand the language and culture of the people.
It alleged that state actors and non-state actors in the East jointly killed 1700 civilians and abducted 1800 in 2022.
The group, however, accused the military personnel of colluding with criminal elements to perpetrate crime in the East, using military checkpoints and camouflage to kidnap people along the highways.
