Return Nnamdi Kanu to Kenya or release him, Traditional Rulers tell President Tinubu

Return Nnamdi Kanu to Kenya or release him, Traditional Rulers tell President Tinubu

A call for national unity and public health collaboration at the 2026 National Traditional and Religious Leaders Summit on Health was overshadowed on Tuesday by a strong appeal to President Bola Tinubu to intervene in the case of Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).

Speaking while delivering a goodwill message at the summit held at the State House Conference Centre, Abuja, the Eze Ogbunechendo of Ezema Olo Kingdom in Enugu State, Lawrence Agubuzu, urged the President to either release Kanu or return him to Kenya, where he was arrested before being brought to Nigeria.

According to the traditional ruler, Kanu’s continued incarceration has intensified anger and agitation among youths in the South-East, placing traditional leaders under growing pressure at home.

“Bring this man out. If we don’t want him in Nigeria, return him to Kenya or London, where they took him from,” Agubuzu said.

“Please do something about this. We cannot make progress in this country if we don’t tell ourselves the truth.”

Agubuzu said traditional rulers in the region are increasingly viewed with suspicion by aggrieved youths, who accuse them of complicity and silence over the issue.

“Some of us here are being asked to go and work, but the young people in the South-East are so agitated they can even beat us,” he said.

“They see us as sell-outs. We come to Abuja; they may think we come to collect money and then we keep quiet.”

The monarch also expressed displeasure over President Tinubu’s absence at the opening session of the summit, particularly during the address delivered by the Ooni of Ife.

“I must tell you, Mr President, that personally I don’t feel very happy because you were not here in the morning when the Ooni of Ife gave the opening remarks and was gingering us to work as one,” he said.

He further accused the Ooni of hypocrisy, alleging that the Yoruba monarch plans to honour Sunday Igboho, a Yoruba nation agitator, while Kanu remains in detention.

“This same Imperial Majesty is arranging to confer a very high honour on Sunday Igboho, who, in my own part of Nigeria and the South-East, we see him as a counterpart of Nnamdi Kanu,” Agubuzu charged.

Reiterating his appeal, the Enugu monarch said responsibility now rests squarely with the President.

“The ball stops on your court. Bring this man out. If we don’t want him in Nigeria, return him to Kenya or London where they took him from,” he insisted.

Kanu was first arrested in 2015 on treason charges and granted bail in 2017 before fleeing the country.

He was rearrested in Kenya in 2021 and returned to Nigeria, where his case went through several stages of litigation, including proceedings at the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court.

On November 20, 2025, a Federal High Court in Abuja convicted him on a seven-count terrorism-related charge and sentenced him to life imprisonment.

The Federal Government has since proscribed IPOB as a terrorist organisation.