“The South-east has made a collective demand to have Nnamdi Kanu released,” the Enugu governor says.
Governor Peter Mbah of Enugu State has again asked President Bola Tinubu to release Nnamdi Kanu, the detained leader of the outlawed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).
Mr Mbah made the appeal on Thursday when he visited Mr Tinubu at the Presidential Villa in Abuja.
He told reporters after meeting with Mr Tinubu that he had initiated talks with the president on the release of the IPOB leader, who has been in detention since he was re-arrested in Kenya and brought back to Nigeria in June 2021 after initially fleeing the country in September 2017.
“We also talked about the release of Nnamdi Kanu. You know that the South-east has made a collective demand to have Nnamdi Kanu released,” Mr Mbah told reporters.
“And we basically identified with that and requested (Kanu’s release by) Mr President, who in his inaugural address promised the people that he’s going to engender national healing and he’s going to serve with compassion.
“So, we’ve basically informed him that this (Kanu’s release) would serve as a pointer to his administration’s extension of his hands of fellowship to Ndigbo,” the governor added.
Sit-at-home
Mr Mbah also said he discussed his recent ban of Monday sit-at-home in Enugu with Mr Tinubu.
The governor said the ban on the IPOB directive was intended to encourage private investments and stimulate ease of doing business in the state, stressing that security and infrastructures were key indicators of ease of doing business.
He said private sector investments, which he hopes to rely on in driving economic growth, would not be possible if the sit-at-home should be allowed to continue in the state.
“And obviously, what that means is that we will, of course, need to heighten our security, tackle the challenges that would flow from that, and, essentially that’s what I have come to do,” he said.
Partnership with federal government
Mr Mbah said he was also at the presidential villa to partner with Mr Tinubu-led federal government to be able to achieve his “humongous vision” for Enugu, noting that his administration had considered the federal government as a “core partner” for the development of the state.
The governor said the partnership would also help the state to transform dominant assets in Enugu into productive assets and also achieve his administration’s target of growing the state’s economy from its current level of $4.4 billion to $30 billion.
“A lot of people do not know, but we have huge mineral resources in Enugu. And these resources are sitting under our ground not being productive.
“So, we believe with the partnership we’re trying to basically build with the federal government, we’re able to transform these assets into productive assets,” he stated.