The Concerned Igbo Ministers Commission (CIMC), an association of Igbo clergymen, has publicly declared that governors of the South-East states, with the sole exception of Abia State Governor Alex Otti, are not sincere in their previous commitment to secure the freedom of Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) leader, Nnamdi Kanu.
Following Kanu’s conviction on the 20th of November, 2025, which resulted in a life imprisonment sentence delivered by Justice James Omotosho of an Abuja Federal High Court, the South-East governors had collectively promised to meet with President Bola Tinubu to pursue a political solution for the agitator’s release from Sokoto Prison.
The CIMC noted that, to date, only Governor Otti has followed through, having met with President Tinubu on the matter after previously visiting Kanu in Sokoto Prison.
In a statement released on Monday, the 15th of December, 2025, the group of Igbo clerics, operating under the CIMC banner, directly accused the South-East governors of betraying Kanu, sharply condemning what it described as the governors’ ‘inaction’ regarding the promised meeting with President Tinubu.
The clerics’ position was laid out in a statement titled ‘Igbo governors and the betrayal of Nnamdi Kanu’, which was officially signed by the association’s president, Rev. Tony Uzor.
The statement articulated the group’s disappointment: “The Concerned Igbo Ministers Commission (CIMC), led by Rev. Tony Uzor, is deeply worried and disappointed by the continued silence and inaction of most Igbo governors over the continued detention of Onyendu Mazi Nnamdi Kanu.
“After the conviction judgment delivered by Justice Omotosho, Igbo governors promised our people that they would urgently meet President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to seek a political and humane solution to this matter. Till today, only one governor has kept that promise Governor Alex Otti of Abia State.
“The rest have failed our people. This is no longer a matter of delay or logistics. It is now clear that many of these politicians are not sincere. Their repeated promises have turned into empty words,” the Igbo clerics lamented, expressing profound concern over the attitude of the region’s political leadership.
Furthermore, the clergymen alleged that the governors’ lack of action stems from fear and discomfort with the possibility of Kanu regaining his freedom.
“The truth is painful, but it must be said: Many Igbo politicians are afraid of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu. They fear his popularity. They fear his courage. They fear the love ordinary Igbo people have for him. They know that if Mazi Nnamdi Kanu is released, their years of betrayal, silence, and cooperation with those oppressing Igbo people will be exposed. That is why, except for Governor Otti, they are comfortable watching an innocent man remain in detention.”
The clerics asserted that the governors are fully aware that Kanu is innocent, genuinely loves the Igbo people, and was prepared to die for them. They also argued, “They know the Eastern Security Network (ESN) was created to protect our communities when governments failed to do so. They also know that criminals were later sponsored and dressed up as “agitators” to destroy the image of the struggle and blackmail the entire Igbo movement,” the statement added.
The CIMC took a firm stand on the widely known Monday sit-at-home phenomenon in the South-East, declaring that Kanu had no hand in its orchestration and had actively worked to stop it.
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“Mazi Nnamdi Kanu did not declare Monday sit-at-home. The people acted on their own out of pain and frustration. More importantly, he tried many times to stop it.”
The statement recalled an attempt by Kanu to end the weekly disruption: “In 2022, when Governor Chukwuma Soludo visited Mazi Nnamdi Kanu at DSS custody, Kanu begged DSS officials to allow him speak to the people and call off sit-at-home and any form of unrest. Governor Soludo witnessed this and even joined in pleading with the DSS. The DSS refused.
“That refusal created room for criminals some backed by government interests to hijack the situation, create insecurity, and then turn around to blame Mazi Nnamdi Kanu for violence he never authorised. Even in open court, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu called for an end to sit-at-home and violence. He wrote a hand-written note warning that anyone calling for sit-at-home was not his follower. “So how can anyone honestly claim that a man locked away in DSS custody was organising insecurity across the South-East? That claim is simply a lie.”
Urging the Igbo governors to “stop deceiving the people,” the clerics delivered a harsh conclusion: “The South-East Governors’ Forum has promised again and again to meet the President and has failed again and again. Our people must now understand the hard truth: some of these governors do not want Mazi Nnamdi Kanu to be free. They believe his freedom will end their political careers built on compromise and silence. But history is watching. God is watching. The Igbo people are watching.”
The Concerned Igbo Ministers Commission concluded by appealing to President Tinubu to intervene and “bring this injustice to an end,” while simultaneously issuing an ultimatum to the South-East governors to “either act now or stop pretending to care.”
“Igbo people and all Nigerians reject lies and stand for truth. You can jail a man, but you cannot jail the truth. You can delay justice, but you cannot erase history. Onyendu Mazi Nnamdi Kanu’s case is not just about one man, it is about justice, dignity, and the future of our people,” the clerics stressed.