Lawrence Agubuzu, Eze Ogbunechendo of Ezema Olo Kingdom in Enugu State, has called on President Bola Tinubu to either release Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), or return him to Kenya, where he was arrested before being brought back to Nigeria.
Agubuzu made the appeal on Tuesday while delivering a goodwill message at the 2026 National Traditional and Religious Leaders Summit on Health at the State House Conference Centre in Abuja.
The traditional ruler said keeping Kanu in detention is increasing tension among youths in the South-East.
“Bring this man out. If we don’t want him in Nigeria, return him to Kenya or London, where they took him from,” he said.
“Please do something about this. We cannot make progress in this country if we don’t tell ourselves the truth.”
Agubuzu also expressed disappointment that President Tinubu was absent when the Ooni of Ife gave the opening remarks at the summit.
“I must tell you, Mr President, that personally I don’t feel very happy because you were not here in the morning when the Ooni of Ife gave the opening remarks and was gingering us to work as one,” he said.
He accused the Ooni of hypocrisy, claiming the monarch is planning to give an honour to Sunday Igboho, the Yoruba nation agitator.
“This same Imperial Majesty is arranging to confer a very high honour on Sunday Igboho, who, in my own part of Nigeria and the South-East, we see him as a counterpart of Nnamdi Kanu,” Agubuzu charged.
“The ball stops on your court. Bring this man out. If we don’t want him in Nigeria, return him to Kenya or London where they took him from,” he insisted.
Agubuzu said traditional rulers in the South-East are under pressure from angry youths over Kanu’s continued detention.
“Some of us here are being asked to go and work, but the young people in the South-East are so agitated they can even beat us,” he said.
“They see us as sell-outs. We come to Abuja; they may think we come to collect money and then we keep quiet.”
Kanu was first arrested in 2015 on treason charges and granted bail in 2017. He later fled the country but was rearrested in Kenya in 2021 and returned to Nigeria.
His case has passed through several court processes, including the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court.
He is currently serving a life sentence in Sokoto prison after being convicted on a seven-count terrorism-related charge by a federal high court in Abuja on November 20, 2025.
The federal government has declared IPOB a terrorist organisation.
