Igbo Ekunie Initiative (IEI) has expressed concern over the continued extra-judicial incarceration of Mr Nnamdi Kanu by the Department of State Security (DSS) and shooting of unarmed protesters.

The group in a media statement signed by its President, Maazi Tochukwu Ezeoke, and Secretary Lawrence Nwobu, flayed the continued detention of Kanu since October 17, after he has met bail condition prescribed by a court of competent jurisdiction.

Alarmed by the development, which it described as a dangerous slide to dictatorship, tyranny and human rights violations, IEI appealed to the African Union, the United Nations and European Union to prevail on President Muhammadu Buhari to order the immediate release of the detained pro-Biafran activist, given his avowed commitment to uphold the rule of law.

IEI noted: “We cannot understand the rationale behind the Buhari-led administration’s actions, in a country that is willing to negotiate with a terrorist group (Boko Haram) on the one hand, while shooting and killing peaceful protesters in parts of the South-East and South-South with live ammunition on the other hand. At the minimum democracy, by its ideological meaning and constitutional statutes, guarantees for all citizens their fundamental rights under the full dictates of the rule of law. It then beats the imagination that an administration that came to power on the basis of a constitutional democracy and its attendant principles of the rule of law would, in less than six months, degenerate into wanton human rights violations and thus desecrate the very constitutional principles with which it rode to power.”

IEI noted that the underlying drivers of the Kanu’s separatist activism are the undeniable contradictions, structural imbalance, marginalisation and social injustices in the system which should be resolved through the implementation of the 2014 National Conference report and the hosting of further dialogues to continue the process of consultation and nation-building.

The group added: “The disturbing trend of selective harassment and human right violations portends a dangerous slide into dictatorship that is contradictory to the spirit and letters of a constitutional democracy. It is even more incriminating and self-defeatist for the Buhari administration, whose main campaign message was anchored on the promise of a positive change in all facets of national life, to engage in extra-judicial detentions and other unconstitutional acts that do not represent change, but rather belong to the sordid and harrowing past the nation struggled to escape from by opting for constitutional democracy.”

•Photo shows Nnamdi Kanu.

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