A legal practitioner and chieftain of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Kenneth Okonkwo, has called on the Federal Government to release the detained leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, urging a political resolution to the long-standing case.
Kanu has been in the custody of the Department of State Services (DSS) since his re-arrest in June 2021. Despite repeated appeals from political leaders — including the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Benjamin Kalu, and governors from the South-East — the IPOB leader remains in detention.
Appearing on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily on Monday, Okonkwo decried Kanu’s continued incarceration, describing it as a violation of justice and constitutional rights.
“A nation that detains a human being for more than seven years without reaching a judgment on his alleged crime is failing in the dispensation of justice,” he said.
“Justice delayed is justice denied. The Constitution provides that every accused person must be tried within a reasonable time.”
The actor-turned-lawyer lamented what he termed an abuse of legal process in Kanu’s case, adding that prolonged detention without judgment erodes public confidence in the justice system.
“Nobody remains sane after being in jail for over seven years while a case drags on. If you can’t find him guilty, release him or pursue a political solution,” Okonkwo stated.
He stressed that frustration among citizens continues to grow as the government fails to bring closure to the matter.
