Posted by Deji Adeyanju, an activist residing in Abuja, claims that Mazi Nnamdi Kanu’s release will increase the chances of the All Progressives Congress (APC) winning the presidency in 2023.
Kanu is the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).
Bola Tinubu, a former governor of Lagos State, is running for president in the APC.
Following a decision by the Court of Appeal, the Federal Government has been under pressure to free Kanu, according to 460play. The order was later given a stay by the court, though.
The abduction of Kanu from Kenya to Nigeria was deemed illegal and illegitimate by the Court of Appeal in Abuja, which also overturned the Federal Government’s whole terrorism case against him.
It concluded that Kanu’s extraordinary rendition to Nigeria was illegal under both domestic and international law.
But AGF Abubakar Malami had pledged that Kanu would not be freed, highlighting the fact that the Federal Government will press more charges against him.
The IPOB leader had stated before his incarceration that no elections would take place in the Southeast until the government had approved a vote that would result in the foundation of Biafra.
Some Nigerians think that releasing Kanu would compromise the integrity of the Southeast elections in 2023 given his arrest in June 2021 and continued detention.
Some believe that the APC might gain a few votes in the Southeast amidst the calls for Kanu’s release.
These assertions are based on calls for allowing the Southeast to produce Nigeria’s president in 2023.
Because its presidential candidate, Peter Obi, is from the Southeast, only the Labour Party, LP, has a greater chance of winning more votes there than the other major political parties.
Adeyanju asserted that Kanu’s release will increase the APC’s prospects of winning the Southeast.
Adeyanju pointed out that politicians in the Southeast might utilize Kanu’s release as a political ploy.
He said in an interview with 460play that it would benefit both the PDP and the ruling party since it would increase the chances of the APC and the morale of its followers. The only party it will have an impact on is the Labor Party, which anticipates receiving a sizable number of votes from the Southeast.
“The odds of the ruling party winning the election will increase if the Federal Government decides to free Nnamdi Kanu.
Politicians can utilize it as a campaign tactic in the Southeast so they have something to use when they return home to run for office.
“Like I’ve maintained, detaining Kanu doesn’t bring any value to the Federal Government; what benefit would they get from holding a man whose arrest was declared unlawful by the court and for whom bail was granted?
“In law, you can’t offer what you don’t have and you can’t build something on nothing.” Because they must first send Kanu back to Kenya, from where he was seized, the government is unable to in any manner demonstrate his culpability. Any court’s decision on that is trivial because extraordinary rendition, or the state-sponsored kidnapping of civilians, is illegal under international law and the government has no simple way out.
“It will only be right for the government to free him because it’s very possible that the next government will do the same.”