A South-East traditional ruler on Tuesday urged President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to release the convicted leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, Nnamdi Kanu, or return him to Kenya, warning that his continued detention is fuelling agitation among youths in the region.

The monarch, Dr Lawrence Agubuzu, the Eze Ogbunechendo of Ezema Olo Kingdom in Enugu State, appealed to the 2026 National Traditional and Religious Leaders Summit on Health at the State House Conference Centre.

“Bring this man out. If we don’t want him in Nigeria, return him to Kenya or London, where they took him from. Please do something about this. We cannot make progress in this country if we don’t tell ourselves the truth,” Agubuzu said.

The summit, themed “The Role of Traditional and Religious Leaders in Advancing the Nigeria Health Sector Renewal Investment Initiative,” was convened to deepen community engagement in health sector reforms. However, the event took an unexpected turn during goodwill messages when the monarch pressed the President on Kanu’s fate.

Agubuzu referenced remarks earlier delivered by the Ooni of Ife and questioned the sincerity of calls for national unity, alleging plans to confer a traditional honour on Sunday Igboho, a Yoruba Nation activist he described as Kanu’s counterpart in the South-West.

He warned of growing restiveness among South-East youths, saying traditional rulers risk losing credibility over the unresolved issue. “They see us as sell-outs. We come to Abuja; they may think we come to collect money, and then we keep quiet,” he said.

Kanu, a British-Nigerian activist and founder of the proscribed IPOB, was first arrested in 2015 on treasonable felony charges over his separatist broadcasts. He was granted bail in 2017 before fleeing the country following a military raid on his home in Umuahia.

In June 2021, the Federal Government announced his re-arrest and return to Nigeria from Kenya, a move his legal team described as an act of extraordinary rendition. In October 2022, the Court of Appeal ordered his release, but the Supreme Court overturned the decision in December 2023 and directed that he stand trial.

On November 20, 2025, Justice James Omotosho of the Federal High Court found Kanu guilty on seven terrorism-related counts and sentenced him to life imprisonment. He was subsequently transferred to the Sokoto Correctional Centre.

Meanwhile, the Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Prof. Muhammad Ali Pate, described the summit as the first comprehensive engagement with traditional and religious leaders since health sector reforms began over two years ago.

The First Lady, Oluremi Tinubu, delivered the keynote address, urging support for the National Community Food Bank Programme ahead of its nationwide rollout in April. President Tinubu later addressed participants during the afternoon session of the summit.