A prominent traditional ruler from Enugu State has made a passionate appeal directly to President Bola Tinubu to facilitate the release of convicted Indigenous People of Biafra leader Nnamdi Kanu, telling the president that the continued detention of the IPOB leader was causing deep pain across the South-East.
Igwe Lawrence Agubuzu, the Ogbunechendo of Ezema Olo Kingdom, made the plea on Tuesday, February 17, at the National Traditional and Religious Leaders Summit on Health in Abuja, with President Tinubu seated in the audience.
The monarch did not mince words, telling the president that he could not pretend to be happy while Kanu remained behind bars in a Sokoto correctional facility.
“But I must tell you, Mr. President, that personally, I don’t feel very happy because you were not here in the morning. There were several speeches, and we listened carefully,” Agubuzu said.
He drew attention to what he described as an inconsistency in how different agitators were being treated, pointing to reports that the Sultan of Sokoto was planning to honour Yoruba activist Sunday Igboho while Kanu remained in detention.
“I listened to the opening address by His Imperial Majesty, and he was gingering all of us to work as a family, to work as a team, and to see Nigeria as one. This is good,” he said.
“But when you look at it, this same Imperial Majesty is arranging to confer a very high honour on Sunday Igboho, who, in my own part of Nigeria and the South-East, we see as a counterpart of Nnamdi Kanu,” the monarch continued.
“And, my brother, fellow royal father, the Imperial Majesty does not seem to understand the pain in my heart when Nnamdi Kanu is in Sokoto,” he said, drawing applause from participants and amusement from the president.
Agubuzu told Tinubu that the decision rested squarely with him and suggested that if Nigeria did not want Kanu, he should be returned to wherever he was taken from.
“So, sir, the ball stops in your court. Bring this man out. If we don’t want him in Nigeria, return him to Kenya or London, where they took him from,” he said.
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The traditional ruler said the situation was making it difficult for leaders like him to engage with young people in the South-East, many of whom view their elders with suspicion.
“You see, some of us here are being asked to go and work, but the young people in the South-East are so agitated; they can even beat us. They see us as sellouts,” he said.
“We come to Abuja — they may think we’ve come to collect money, and then we keep quiet. So, sir, please do something about this. We cannot make progress in this country if we don’t tell ourselves the truth. There’s no way,” Agubuzu added.
President Tinubu did not respond verbally to the monarch’s appeal but applauded him.
Kanu was sentenced to life imprisonment on November 20, 2025, by Justice James Omotosho of the Federal High Court in Abuja on terrorism charges.
He has since appealed the conviction, arguing that his trial was riddled with fundamental legal errors.
In January, Justice Omotosho struck out a motion filed by Kanu seeking his transfer from the Sokoto Correctional Centre, where he is currently being held.
The IPOB leader’s case has remained a sensitive political issue, particularly in the South-East. Abia State Governor Alex Otti, who hails from the same state as Kanu, announced in November 2025 that steps were being taken to secure his release.
“The poor management of the IPOB issue in its early stages created the challenges we face today. We cannot allow it to fester and escalate into a larger, more dangerous crisis,” Otti said.
“I urge those seeking to play petty politics with Mazi Nnamdi Kanu’s plight to abandon that approach and instead work with us to secure his freedom,” he added.