President Muhammadu Buhari has been advised by elder statesmen Tanko Yakassai and General Ibrahim Bata Haruna (rtd), also known as IBM Haruna, not to pardon Nnamdi Kanu, the detained leader of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).
They spoke in separate interviews with our reporters, which were broadcast on television.
Kanu had fled Nigeria in 2017, jumping bail after his Afaraukwu home in Abia State was invaded by soldiers. He was apprehended in Kenya in June this year.
The IPOB leader is facing treason charges.
Buhari recently stated that he would consider Igbo leaders’ demand for Kanu’s release.
Kanu should not be granted amnesty, according to Yakasai, because he declared war on Nigeria and instigated the deaths of many security personnel.
He stated that if he were Buhari, he would not pardon the leader of the secessionist group.
“Buhari is the president, and he has the power to forgive and pardon whoever he wants,” Yakasai said. I won’t stop him from doing that (pardoning Kanu); I don’t have the power to do so, but if I were him, I wouldn’t do it.
“I would never forgive or pardon anyone who declares war on this country.”
“I am a committed nationalist; I fought for this country and spent many years in prison for it…
What was Nnamdi Kanu’s contribution to Nigeria or even the Igbo people? He did not create Biafra; he met it. He was a child when Biafra was declared. So, President Buhari is in charge; he is the president of this country.”
Northerners, particularly the Hausa-Fulani, are the people Nnamdi Kanu despises the most, according to Yakasai.
“I’m a Hausa, not a Fulani.” So, I have no power to prevent Buhari from pardoning Nnamdi Kanu; he has that power, but I will not support it,” Yakassai said.
For IBM Haruna, releasing someone without a trial is tantamount to undermining the judiciary’s constitutional role.
“It’s disheartening that the law isn’t applied equally to everyone,” he said. Take this example: as a soldier who fought in a war, we had coup makers, who were tried and shot after the war.
“However, today, incidents and treasonous fast-fighting are being used as a political game to waste other people’s lives. Kanu is a good example of this. Isn’t it up to date?
“The (Igbo) leaders are requesting that he be released without a trial, effectively undermining the constitutional provision of the judiciary’s role in the executive.”
“Well, he’s the president,” IBM Haruna said of Buhari’s pledge to consider Kanu’s release. He’s a politician, after all.
“I’ll only warn him that if he doesn’t do the right things, where we face treason challenges, we’ll revert to the experiences we had in 1966, which resulted in civil war, the loss of lives, and the squandering of economic power.”
“In the end, we had to return and continue the game that these people want to re-enact right now,” says the narrator. It’s a major letdown.”
“We cannot continue like this,” he said, referring to the argument that pardoning Kanu and other secessionists is a way of reuniting the nation and addressing alleged Igbo marginalization. People will want more and more of everything.
“However, it would not arise if we strictly followed the law, the fundamental interest, and the track for the country’s welfare.” These issues continue to arise because governments prefer to rally people around the essentials of growing and developing our nation state through either the use of authority or the proper application of the stick.
“Because the leadership has been blamed, the wrong prescriptions have been made.” To begin with, they’re probably short-sighted in order to bolster a position that they believe they don’t deserve.”
