IPOB: Mbah Renews Call For Kanu’s Release
Governor Peter Mbah of Enugu State has renewed his call for the release of the detained leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Mazi Nnamdi Kanu.
Kanu is being tried over alleged terrorism. He has been in the custody of the Department of State Services since 2021, when he was renditioned from Kenya to Nigeria.
The governor made the call on Monday when he spoke with newsmen after delivering a paper at the ongoing national conference of the Nigerian Bar Association in Enugu.
He stated that he had gone to President Bola Tinubu and made an appeal for Kanu’s release.
According to him, “My first visit to the president was about Nnamdi Kanu. I believe that the right thing to do is to release him. Hopefully, that will be done soon.”
He also said Enugu State had ended sit-at-home, which was declared by IPOB to press the release of Kanu. He said the stoppage became imperative to enable the growth of the state’s Gross Domestic Product from $4.4bn to $30bn.
According to Gov. Mbah, “We met a situation where people were compelled to stay at home every Monday. Now, people trade in Ogbete and other markets in peace on Mondays. Monday sit-at-home has ended in Enugu State.
“Our vision is to grow Enugu’s economy from $4.4 billion to $30 billion to reduce the poverty headcount to zero and to make Enugu the preferred destination in Nigeria for business, for tourism, and for living. We imagined a state that, within eight years, would be completely unrecognisable from the one we inherited.”
On the security situation in the state, Mbah said, “We built a tech-driven, intelligence-led security architecture anchored in our Command and Control Centre. With round-the-clock AI surveillance across our neighbourhoods, integrated response units (DRS), and community partnership, Enugu has recorded an over 80 per cent reduction in violent crime. This stability is the bedrock upon which investment, jobs, and society can grow.”
He added that his administration currently has over 2,000 ongoing or completed projects spanning health, roads, transport, agriculture, and education. He also defended his decision to allocate over 33 per cent of the state’s budget to education.
“We committed over 33 per cent of our budget to education – a decision some thought was reckless. But we knew it was essential. The real wealth of Enugu, now and in the future, rests on the quality of its human capital.”
IPOB: Mbah Renews Call For Kanu’s Release is first published on The Whistler Newspaper
