Ohanaeze Ndigbo, apex Igbo
socio-political organisation, has demanded the immediate release of Eyinnaya
Abaribe, a senator from Abia state.
Operatives of the Department of
State Services (DSS) arrested Abaribe in Abuja on Friday morning.
Although the DSS did not disclose
the reason for this, it is believed to be over the surety he stood for Nnamdi
Kanu, leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), who has not been seen
in public since September.
In April 2017, a federal high
court in Abuja granted bail to Kanu after 18 months in detention.
Abaribe alongside Tochukwu Uchendu
and Emmanuel Shallom Ben, stood as sureties for the IPOB leader and signed a
bond of N100m each.
The sureties have been under
pressure to produce Kanu who was standing trial for alleged treason.
In a statement on Friday, John
Nnia Nwodo, president general of Ohaneze Ndigbo, said the circumstances at the
time of the “disappearance” of Kanu are beyond the “contemplation of the law
that a surety can guarantee the production of an accused person”.
“The army in the name of
‘Operation Python Dance’ invaded Nnamdi’s home and destabilised normalcy
there,” the statement read.
“It is only the security agency
that can disclose Nnamdi’s whereabouts. Senator Abaribe has no capacity, nor
has any surety in the circumstances to know the whereabouts of Nnamdi Kanu.
What happened in Umahia was an invasion, a war of a kind.
“Nnamdi may have been killed or
captured in the imbroglio or even escaped into hiding.
“The onus lies on the security
forces to disclose his whereabouts. The judiciary is beginning to tow the line
of the executive by throwing the law overboard in matters that affect the
south-east.
“We are all equal before the law.
Senator Abaribe must be released forthwith.”
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