Asari Dokubo, leader of the Niger Delta, has stated categorically that releasing Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), would amount to rewarding criminality.
Since his re-arrest in 2021, Kanu, who is on trial for terrorism, has been in the custody of the Department of State Services (DSS).
In 2017, a Federal High Court in Abuja granted him bail, but he violated the conditions and departed the country.
President Muhammadu Buhari had resisted pressure to release Kanu, but with the inauguration of a new government, demands for the IPOB leader's release have been renewed.
Governor Peter Mbah of Enugu State met with President Bola Tinubu to discuss the Kanu situation.
After meeting with President Bola Tinubu, Dokubo told reporters that Kalu should face the law.
"His release would fuel impunity; Nnamdi Kanu was walking free during EndSars." What was he doing? He added gasoline to the embers of EndSars. Now he has been apprehended. What happened to the deceased? This is a criminal. He should be prosecuted.
"Releasing Nnamdi Kanu rewards criminality and the brutal assassination of innocent individuals. "He should be held accountable for his actions and instigations," Dokubo was quoted as saying by Daily Trust.