In order to extend a hand of friendship to the people of the South-East, Governor Peter Mbah of Enugu State has begun discussions over the release of Nnamdi Kanu, the self-declared leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), a group that has been proscribed.
The governor, who thinks Kanu’s release will accelerate the nation’s healing process, which the president has already started, told pressmen following a private meeting with the president on Thursday that one of the topics discussed was Kanu’s potential release, who has received a number of favourable court rulings regarding his prosecution.
Mbah revealed that he also pleaded with the federal government for help in exploring the enormous mineral potential in Enugu State for the good of the
Mbah said, “We have a number of dominant assets in Enugu which we believe partnering with the Federal Government, we’re able to transform them into productive assets.
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“A lot of people do not know but we have huge mineral resources in a new group. And these resources are sitting under our ground not being productive. So, we believe with the partnership we’re trying to basically build with the Federal Government, we’re able to transform these assets into productive assets.
“Of course, you know that the growth level we have proposed is one that is going to be driven by private sector and private sector want the ease of doing business and one of the core indicators of the ease of doing business is security and infrastructure.
“So, we also had that conversation with Mr. President. We have made a very strong announcement. We’ve banned sit-at-home on Mondays in Enugu. And obviously, what that means is that we will, of course, need to, you know, heighten our security, tackle the challenges that would flow from that, and, you know, essentially that’s what I have come to do.
“And finally, we also of course, talked about the release of Nnamdi Kanu. You know, that the South East has made a collective demand to have Nnamdi Kanu released. And we basically identified with that and request Mr. President, who in his inaugural address promised the people that he’s going to engender national healing and he’s going to serve with compassion.
“So, we’ve basically informed him that this would serve as a pointer to his administration’s extension of hands of fellowship.”