Difficult to fraternise with Presidency while Kanu is in prison, Enugu monarch tells Tinubu

A traditional ruler in the South East, Dr Lawrence Agubuzu, Eze Ogbunechendo of Ezema Olo Kingdom, Enugu State, has called on President Bola Tinubu to grant a state pardon to the leader of the outlawed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, who is currently serving a conviction in Sokoto State for terrorism-related charges.

Dr Agubuzu made the request on Tuesday while speaking at the National Traditional and Religious Leaders Summit on Health 2026 and the flag-off of the Nutrition Campaign in Nigeria, held at the State House Conference Centre, Abuja.

The traditional ruler, who commended the Federal Government’s initiative to collaborate with traditional rulers in the fight against preventable diseases, expressed concern that it is becoming difficult to openly associate with the present administration in the South East while Kanu remains in a correctional centre.

He also faulted the move by the Ooni of Ife and Chairman of the Southern Nigeria Traditional Rulers, Oba Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi Ojaja II, to confer a traditional title on a social agitator in the South West, Sunday Igboho, whom he claimed engaged in armed insurrection against the state like Kanu.

He said: “We have come to Abuja today, and we’ve seen the crowd. The only thing I can remember like this is when President Jonathan was president of Nigeria. He called the 2014 National Conference, and the venues used to be full like this—but this one is fuller. So, more people.

“First, we’ve been committed to the health of our people. But having come now to Abuja and listened to Professor Mohamed Pate and his team, we are now even more committed. So, the traditional rulers of Nigeria will now go home and work harder than before.

“But I must tell you, Mr. President, that personally, I don’t feel very happy because you were not here in the morning. There were several speeches, and we listened carefully. I listened to the opening address by His Imperial Majesty, and he was gingering all of us to work as a family, to work as a team, and to see Nigeria as one. This is good. But when you look at it, this same Imperial Majesty is arranging to confer a very high honour on Sunday Igboho—who, in my own part of Nigeria and the Southeast, we see as a counterpart of Nnamdi Kanu.

“Oh, my brother, fellow royal father, the Imperial Majesty does not seem to understand the pain in my heart when Nnamdi Kanu is in Sokoto. So sad—the ball stops 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.

“You see, some of us here are being asked to go and work, but the young people in the Southeast are so agitated they can even beat us. They see us as sellouts. We come to Abuja, they may think we’ve come to collect money and then keep quiet. So sad. Please do something about this. We cannot make progress in this country if we don’t tell ourselves the truth. There’s no way.”

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The traditional ruler, who spoke on behalf of his colleagues, also disowned the newly created Southern Nigeria Traditional Rulers Council.

“Now, again, they were talking about the Southern Traditional Rulers Committee on Health, and the eminent Professor Pate was saying that this will become an annual event, what we are doing today, if I heard him correctly. The truth of the matter is that there is nothing like a Southern Traditional Rulers Council. If you come here and give money to people on that basis, it is not correct.

”The South is not the North. We have our system. We need unity in diversity. So, if you want to deal with us, deal with us in the Southeast. If you have resources for us, give them to us. Don’t give them to people who come and say they represent a traditional rulers council. Democracy is representative government, and anybody who goes to present himself without his people is neither democratic nor traditional. So, get it right. We will do our best.”

“Mr. President, we thank you all, please listen to our cries. All of us.”