Coalition of Northern Groups (CNG) has called on the Federal Government of Nigeria not bow to the “current pressure by Ohanaeze and its ilk to secure the unconditional release of the leader of a group that has been duly proscribed as terrorist.”

Spokesperson of the group, Abdul-Azeez Suleiman, in a statement, said the drives for Nnamdi Kanu’s release without proper court trials by Ndigbo leaders and groups have intensified after the February 25 presidential election.

The coalition hinted that groups such as the Ohanaeze Ndigbo have joined in the “campaign of blackmail” using Kanu’s release as a precondition for Ndigbo cooperation with the incoming Tinubu administration which they never voted for and are in no way material to its success at the February 25 presidential election.

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It warned the president-elect to be mindful of the antics “aimed at causing mishaps and unnecessary devastation and driving Nigeria over the brink into a catastrophe”.

It added: “Instead, the President should remain resolute in ensuring the diligent prosecution of Kanu, his sponsors, backers and collaborators in the heinous crimes against the Nigerian state and innocent Nigerian citizens.

“In order to prevent a descent into anarchy at this day and age, and to forestall mass killings, untold sufferings and atrocities, the federal government must not accede to the current pressure by Ohanaeze and its ilk to secure the unconditional release of the leader of a group that has been duly proscribed as terrorist.”

Nnamdi Kanu is the leader of the IPOB- a group leading the agitation for an independent state of Biafra in the South Eastern part of Nigeria.

Kanu was re-arrested in Kenya and brought back to Nigeria in June 2021, about four years after he jumped bail.