The Anambra State Governor, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo, has clarified that the person he met at the Department of State Services’ detention facility in Abuja was the real Nnamdi Kanu.

Soludo had visited the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra last Friday and posted the videos where Kanu was wearing a red shirt instead of the Fendi white outfit he wears to court.

The governor said his visitation to Kanu was in continuation of finding a lasting solution to peace in the South-East part of the country.

Since the governor posted the videos on his social media handles, there have been wide insinuations that the person Soludo showed in the video was not the real Kanu but a cloned fellow.

According to the rumours making the rounds in Anambra, it was alleged that the real Kanu puts on a white outfit and not red.

But speaking to our correspondent in Awka, on Saturday, the Chief Press Secretary to the governor, Christian Aburime, dismissed the rumour as the handiwork of propaganda who do not want peace to return to the state.

Aburime pointed out that the person the governor met and posted was the real Kanu and not a cloned one, adding that there is no other Kanu at the DSS facility in Abuja.

He said, “The people saying Soludo posted the video of a cloned Kanu are telling lies to deceive the people and the truth is obvious. Do you think a governor will want to get involved in that kind of frivolities by coming to tell the people that he met Kanu if he did not meet him?

“In essence, Soludo met with Kanu and not a cloned fellow of him. Everything is clear enough, you can see the governor and Kanu in the videos clearly, it was not something that is cloned as people are erroneously propagating now.

“On the reason he was wearing a red dress instead of the traditional white cloth that he wears to court is because the judge has directed that the DSS allows him access to any cloth he wants to wear and even allow him to watch television. So, on the day Soludo visited him, he was wearing a different cloth, people should not expect him to wear one type of cloth every day.

“He has the right to wear any type of cloth he wants to wear, especially as the judge has directed the DSS to allow him to change clothes,” he stated, adding that the Indigenous People of Biafra leader told the governor that he did not direct the sit-at-home and the killings as well as burning of public utilities, going on in the South-East.

He urged the people to ignore the rumour that the governor met a cloned Kanu, saying it is untrue.

He added that the IPOB’s leader was in very high spirits and had quality and frank discussions with the governor in a very convivial atmosphere.

He said the IPOB leader also expressed sadness over what he described as “sacrilegious killings” of innocent persons, kidnappings and all forms of criminalities, including the brutal enforcement of the senseless “sit at home” perpetuated by sundry groups claiming to be acting for or on behalf of IPOB.

Aburime said, “The governor relates the outcome of the visit as follows: “I visited Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, yesterday, (Friday, 13th May, 2022) to felicitate with him and also as part of the wider consultations with critical stakeholders in search of lasting peace and security in the South-East.

“He was in very high spirits and we had quality and frank discussion in a very convivial atmosphere. He expressed sadness over what he described as “sacrilegious killings” of innocent persons, kidnappings and all forms of criminalities, including the brutal enforcement of the senseless “sit at home” perpetuated by sundry groups claiming to be acting for or on behalf of IPOB.

“He assured that if the opportunity arises, he will be glad to personally broadcast to his followers to maintain the peace. Together, we shall restore peace, security and prosperity in Anambra and the South-East,” he emphasised.

Aburime urged the Anambra people to ignore those spreading the rumour of a cloned Kanu, saying that Soludo is meeting with critical stakeholders with a view to finding lasting peace in the state.

He advised the hoodlums perpetrating trouble in the state to accept the olive branch the governor has extended to them and turn a new leaf. (Courtesy, excluding headline, The PUNCH)

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