By Ismaeel Aleem
The Director General of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Digital Force, Pharmacist Ikeagwuonwu Klinsmann, has implored President Bola Tinubu to grant a state pardon to Nnamdi Kanu, the detained leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), as a gesture of national reconciliation and renewed hope for unity.
In a statement issued from Stockholm, Sweden yesterday Klinsmann portrayed Tinubu as “a leader with a heart of gold” whose politics is steered by compassion, inclusiveness, and national unity.
He argued that Kanu’s release would exemplify statesmanship and propel the President’s agenda to mend Nigeria’s ethnic and political divides.
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“At a time when Nigeria is navigating sensitive political and ethnic fault lines, the release of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu would represent a bold step toward healing the scars of division and restoring confidence among the people of the South-East,” Klinsmann remarked.
He cited the President’s recent pardons of several convicts and political detainees as evidence of his magnanimous leadership spirit, suggesting the same mercy be extended to Kanu.
Klinsmann recalled his earlier plea following Pope Francis’s death, urging Tinubu to view it as a “divine window for reconciliation” by freeing Kanu in tribute to the Pope’s ethos of mercy and forgiveness.
He invoked judicial rulings questioning the legality of Kanu’s ongoing detention and invoked Section 175 of the 1999 Constitution, empowering the President to exercise prerogative of mercy.
“Releasing Nnamdi Kanu through a state pardon will not be an act of weakness but of visionary leadership.
It will calm tensions in the South-East, revitalise trade in cities like Onitsha, Aba, and Enugu, and restore investor confidence in the region,” Klinsmann asserted.
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The APC chieftain called for a National Reconciliation and Integration Forum to promote dialogue among Nigeria’s diverse groups, warning that shelving planned protests by the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) and activist Omoyele Sowore could prevent escalation by criminal elements.
