Lawrence Agubuzu, the Eze Ogbunechendo of Ezema Olo Kingdom in Enugu State, has asked Bola Tinubu to release Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), or return him to Kenya, where he was arrested before being brought to Nigeria.
Agubuzu spoke on Tuesday while delivering a goodwill message at the 2026 National Traditional and Religious Leaders Summit on Health held at the State House Conference Centre in Abuja.
The traditional ruler said Kanu’s continued detention is fuelling agitation 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 added that he was unhappy that Tinubu was absent when the Ooni of Ife delivered 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 encouraging us to work as one,” he said.
He accused the Ooni of hypocrisy, alleging that the monarch plans to confer an honour on Sunday Igboho, a 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 as a counterpart to Nnamdi Kanu,” Agubuzu said.
“The ball is in 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 facing pressure from aggrieved youths over Kanu’s continued incarceration.
“Some of us here are being asked to go and work, but the young people in the South-East are so agitated that they could even beat us,” he said.
“They see us as sell-outs. When we come to Abuja, they may think we come to collect money and then keep quiet.”
Kanu was first arrested in 2015 on treason charges and was granted bail in 2017. He later fled the country but was rearrested in Kenya in 2021 and returned to Nigeria.
His case has since gone through multiple rounds of litigation, including proceedings at the court of appeal and the supreme court.
Kanu is currently serving a life sentence in Sokoto prison following his conviction on a seven-count terrorism-related charge by a federal high court in Abuja on November 20, 2025.
The federal government has proscribed IPOB as a terrorist organisation.
