Ex-Attorney-General begs Tinubu to free Kanu

A former Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice in Imo State, Chukwuma Machukwu-Ume (SAN), has pleaded with President Bola Tinubu to honour the request of deceased national sages and free the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu. Machukwu-Ume’s plea is contained in a letter addressed to the president and dated February 24, […]

A former Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice in Imo State, Chukwuma Machukwu-Ume (SAN), has pleaded with President Bola Tinubu to honour the request of deceased national sages and free the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu.

Machukwu-Ume’s plea is contained in a letter addressed to the president and dated February 24, 2025. with the title, “Healing the wounds in our nation-building efforts and matching Nigeria towards a new stable nation: Hence this passionate plea for the urgent release of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu.”

Machukwu-Ume requested President Tinubu to weigh his humble appeal and reflect on the pleas of the late leaders from the South, such as Chief Edwin Clark, Chief Ayo Adebanjo, Chief Mbazurike Amaechi, Prof. George Achulike Obiozo, Dr. Chukwuemeka Ezeife, and Chief Engr. Emmanuel lwuanyanwu, “who spent their final years advocating for peace, unity, national healing and requesting for his release.”

“Their voices, though now silent, remain an enduring call for statesmanship and fairness,” he said. 

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Machukwu-Ume urged a reflection on the antecedents and circumstances that led to the emergence of Kanu and the need for sustainable nation-building, which he said can only be achieved through the inclusion of every sub-group in the country to give them a sense of belonging, adding that “the indivisibility of Nigeria is not a frame thought for an ethnic hegemony.”

He said the ongoing “tragic” transformation of the South East into a theatre of war and bloodshed after the Owerri jail break and the destructive Monday sit-at-home, which he said was publicly denounced by Kanu, was being used by non-state actors to destroy the economy of the zone.