A call has gone out to the Federal Government that the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu must not die in the custody of the Department of State Services (DSS), or else they should be ready to face the consequences.
reports that an Anambra State-based human rights organisation identified as the International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law said Kanu should not be allowed to die in custody.
The group during a press briefing in Enugu on Sunday said if the IPOB leader is allowed to die in custody, the consequences would be “far-reaching.”
According to it, the DSS has the capacity to fund Kanu’s health either within the country or abroad so he shouldn’t be ignored.
The group’s reaction comes days after Kanu’s brother raised an alarm that he needed medical treatment that required immediate surgery after the family raised money for his feeding and drugs in DSS custody because he was being starved.
The group’s Board Chair, Chief Emeka Umeagbalasi, advised the federal government to start reconciling with aggrieve citizens of the country to calm tensions in the country instead of holding Kanu in detention.
He also advocated for the release of all other pro-Biafra agitators held in various detention facilities without trial.
recalls that Kanu has been in solitary confinement at the detention facility of the DSS since June 2021.
Umeagbalasi submitted that “Nnamdi Kanu must not die in detention. The DSS has the capacity to give medical treatment either in Nigeria or outside Nigeria. The consequences of dying in detention will be far-reaching.
The federal government should also release all other pro-Biafra agitators held in various detention centres across the country. As a government that will soon wound up it should start making amend and use the political solutions in addressing the issue of pro-Biafra agitation.”
Giving his comment about the state of insecurity in the southeast and the forthcoming general election, he opined that the 1500 military checkpoints and 4000 police checkpoints in Eastern Nigeria comprising the southeast and Southsouth should be removed.
Umeagbalasi explained that he suggests that the checkpoints should be removed because “those checkpoints have been converted to extortion points.”
He, therefore, suggested that 60% of the senior security officers of non-eastern origin should be replaced with officers of eastern origin who understand the language and culture of the people.
The group also alleged that state actors and non-state actors in the east jointly killed 1700 civilians and abducted 1800 in 2022.
The group as well accused the military personnel of colluding with criminal elements to perpetrate crime in the east, using military checkpoints and camouflage to kidnap people along the highways.
