We can’t release Nnamdi Kanu, he should defend himself – Buhari

President Muhammadu Buhari  has said that the leader of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra, Nnamdi Kanu, will not be released but will have to defend himself in court for “abusing his administration” while he was overseas.

Buhari stated this in an interview aired on Channels Television on the night of Wednesday, January 5th, 2022.

The President said, “There is one institution that I wouldn’t interfere with, that is judiciary. Kanu’s case is with the judiciary but what I wonder is when Kanu was safely in Europe, abusing this administration and mentioning too many things, I thought he wants to come and defend himself on the accusations.

“So, we are giving him an opportunity to defend himself in our system, not to be abusing us from Europe as if he was not a Nigerian. Let him come here with us and then criticise us here. Nigerians know that I don’t interfere with the judiciary, let him be listened to. But those who are saying that he should be released, no, we cannot release him.”

A delegation of respected Igbo elders led by Minister of Aviation in the First Republic, Chief Mbazulike Amaechi, had visited the President in Aso Rock on November 19, 2021 and requested the unconditional release of the Nnamdi Kanu.

Buhari had told them he would not want to interfere in judiciary affairs but said he would consider their demand.

When asked about the possibility of a political solution, the president said, “There is a possibility of political solution. If people behave themselves, all well and good but you can’t go to a foreign country and keep on sending incorrect economic and security problems against our country and thinking that you would not account for what you have been doing. Let him account for what he has been doing.”