From Chijioke Agwu, Abakaliki and Brown Chimezie
Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB), yesterday, demanded immediate release of leader of the Indigenous people of Biafra (IPOB), Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, who is being held in a DSS facility in Abuja while facing treason charge.
The group also appealed to President Muhamamdu Buhari to back the quest by Igbo to produced his successor in 2023.
In a statement by Uchenna Madu, the pro-Biafra group told President Buhari who is expected in Ebonyi State today, that it would not work against his visit.
It, however, maintained that only the release of the IPOB leader and emergence of a Nigerian president of South East extraction would end agitations and hasten the return of peace in the South East zone.
“MASSOB request from President Muhammadu Buhari to facilitate and ensure that one of the many South East presidential aspirants succeeds him in 2023 to help the country diffuse many bottled anger which has fuelled agitations.
“MASSOB also remind President Muhammadu Buhari that the continuous detention of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu in DSS custody will only worsen the security challenges facing the country, it will also continue to affect the economy.”
Meanwhile, Ohanaeze Youth Council, has warned the Igbo against endorsing any presidential aspirant from outside the region.
The warning came against the backdrop of the purported endorsement of the All Progressives Congress (APC) leader and presidential aspirant, Bola Tinubu by a certain Miracle Nwosu.
Addressing a press briefing in Enugu, President, Ohanaeze Ndigbo Youth Council , Mazi Okwu Nnabuike said it was wrong for the Igbo to endorse any aspirant even when political parties were yet to conduct their primaries.
“Today, we decided to address the media owing to a series of calls and enquiries, which borders on the purported endorsement of Bola Tinubu by a certain phoney character, who gave his name as Miracle Nwosu. This came to us as a surprise, more so, when every check showed that no such person has ever existed in Ohanaeze or in Igboland as a whole, but is a character created out of desperation to hoodwink the unsuspecting members of the public.
“We are very much aware that all the political parties are still in the process of choosing their flag-bearers. In that case, it is absolutely weird for anyone to endorse any aspirant. Ndigbo are not known to be visionless as portrayed by the fellow in the said press statement. We have already set up a committee to find out those behind this hatchet job and they will sooner than later hear from us. We will not sit by and watch anyone, no matter how highly placed, truncate the Igbo presidency project,” Okwu said.