Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has clarified that the release of Nnamdi Kanu was not a topic of discussion during his recent meeting with governors of the south-east region. This statement comes as the governors, under the aegis of the South-East Governors’ Forum, plan to engage with President Bola Tinubu regarding Kanu, the leader of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).

The meeting, which took place on Tuesday, was focused on regional development issues, according to Obasanjo. Hope Uzodimma, the governor of Imo State and chairman of the forum, announced that addressing Kanu’s situation with the federal government was one of the key resolutions from the Enugu meeting.

In a statement released by Kehinde Akinyemi, his special assistant on media affairs, Obasanjo emphasized that the discussions he had with the governors centered around security, infrastructure, economic cooperation, and regional development to complement the national economic development agenda.

“The regional development issues include security and infrastructure. Others were economic and cooperative/collaboration, which was meant to complement the national economic development agenda,” the statement read. “The meeting with them was at my invitation and of Chief Emeka Anyaoku before their summit began. The issue of Nnamdi Kanu was not on the agenda and was not discussed in my presence,” Obasanjo stated.

Nnamdi Kanu has been in the custody of the Department of State Services (DSS) since his extradition to Nigeria in 2021. He faces charges of treasonable felony and was denied bail in May.