Citizen Anichebe Writes Tinubu Seeks Urgent Release Of Nnamdi Kanu
Mr Izuorah Anichebe, a young activist, has called on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to etch his name in hold by taking bold and courageous steps to unite the country by addressing the alleged injustice against the people of the Southeast region of Nigeria.
Anichebe commended Tinubu s administration for taking intentional steps towards repositioning Nigeria grappling with economic realities, security concerns, and national unity.
In a heart touching letter entitled “appeal for justice, healing, and national redemption” to President Tinubu appealed for the immediate and unconditional release of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu through the instrument of the presidential prerogative of mercy.
He said the prolonged detention of MNK fueled the insecurity in the Southeast, emboldens radical elements, and entrenched the perception that Nigeria was a country unwilling to embrace reconciliation.
Anichebe said MNK’s release would de-escalate tensions, encourage dialogue, and ultimately boost Nigeria’s economy as well as restore stability and economic growth in the Southeast.
According to Anichebe, I write to you with an urgent appeal, not merely as a citizen, but as a witness to the echoes of our past and the shadows they continue to cast upon our present.
“Permit me to extend my deepest commendations for the strides your administration has taken thus far in navigating the turbulent waters of governance.
“Your Excellency,. Mazi Nnamdi Kanu is not in detention because he is a criminal; he is in detention because Nigeria has refused to confront its past.
“He is the voice of a people who have, for too long, felt unheard, unseen, and unwanted, keeping him in prison does not solve the problem. It deepens it.
“His incarceration is not merely his burden to bear, it is the burden of an entire generation that has grown disillusioned with a country that refuses to acknowledge its wounds.
“To release Mazi Nnamdi Kanu is to say to the world: Nigeria is ready to heal. It is to demonstrate that your presidency is one of justice, wisdom, and unity,” he said.
Anichebe said it had become necessary to reintegrate the Southeast as equal stakeholders in the Nigerian project by addressing the root causes of agitation and restructuring the country such that no region felt shortchanged.
He condemned what he described as distortion of history and historical falsehood which according to him had instigated decades of marginalisation, distrust, and resentment against the Igbo nation.
He welcomed the recent revelation by President Ibrahim Babangida that the Jan. 15, 1966 coup was not an Igbo coup, ‘a view that had been used to justify the marginalisation and persecution of the Igbo Nation’
According to him, General Babangida, an elder Statesman who lived through that era, has now set the record straight, the coup, as he revealed, was not an ethnic conspiracy but an ideological revolt against corruption and political decay..
“Yet, this truth was buried beneath propaganda. The coup was twisted into an ethnic agenda, inflaming tensions that culminated in the Civil War—a war in which millions of defunct Biafra perished.
“It is this unaddressed historical injustice that gave birth to men like Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, he is a prisoner of an unresolved history
“But there is a path forward, a path that only a leader with the heart of a Statesman can walk. Grant him his freedom, and you will not only be liberating a man; you will be opening the door to healing a broken region,” he said.
The young activist said the civil war remained a wound in our national psyche as many perished with their memory unhonored, their sacrifices unrecognised.
“Beyond the release of MNK, declare May 31 a National Day of Remembrance,” he said.
