Governor Peter Mbah (left) and IPOB Leader, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu
By NewsBits
Governor Peter Mbah of Enugu State on Thursday visited President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, pleading for the release of the Leader of Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) Mazi Nnamdi Kanu.
Following this development, Governor Mbah becomes the first Enugu governor in the past 8 years to visit the seat of power to discuss issues affecting the Southeast especially Enugu State. Briefing Presidential Villa Correspondents after the meeting, Mbah described it as heart-warming.
The governor said that partnership and collaboration with the Federal Government is critical to actualising his administration’s agenda for Enugu State, especially in the areas of economy, infrastructure, security, and activation of dormant assets.
Mbah also said he equally discussed the need to release Kanu, saying it is a demand by the Southeast which is very much in tandem with President Tinubu’s promise in his inaugural address to engender national healing and reconciliation.
He said: “I came and frankly I brought to the President, the warm greetings and best wishes from the government and the people of Enugu State. But, above all, you may also know already that we made massive campaign promises to the people of Enugu. And we also have expressed humongous vision.
“We’ve taken a bold view of what the new government could achieve in the next four years, in terms of growing our economy from the current levels to $30 billion. And one of our core governance philosophies is to collaborate and to have partnership; and we have identified the federal government as our core partner.
“A lot of people do not know, but we have huge mineral resources in Enugu State. And these resources are sitting under our ground, not being productive. So, we believe with the partnership we’re trying to 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 the private sector and private sector wants 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.
“And finally, we also talked about the release of Nnamdi Kanu. You know that the Southeast 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 to Ndigbo”, he said.
