Enugu-based Catholic priest Rev Fr Ejike Mbaka says the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra Nnamdi Kanu is not a murderer and should be released from detention.
Mbaka reportedly spoke during a sermon on Sunday at his ministry’s adoration ground in Enugu. The popular priest said he asked that Mr Kanu be freed when some government agents, whom he did not mention, allegedly visited him with offers.
He said, “Some persons came to me some time ago that they have two slots for me. I told them I don’t need such offers because I have a slot that I need. They said I should mention what I need. My first request was that they should release Nnamdi Kanu.
“Has anybody seen Kanu kill anyone? Kanu is not a murderer. Have you caught him with guns? Why arrest someone who has never kidnapped anyone? Our land must yield an increase. Kanu is not herdsmen, kidnappers, or bandits, or Boko Haram. He does not carry ammunition and he is not even an unknown gunman. My job is to say what the spirit asked me to say.”
Mbaka, who is the spiritual director of Adoration Ministry, urged Nigerian authorities to address banditry, terrorism, poverty, herdsmen menace, injustice, corruption, and “unhealthy tribalism” with the same “aggression” deployed to arrest Kanu.
The priest was in June barred from commenting on partisan politics by the Catholic bishop of Enugu diocese Callistus Onaga.
