Sowore Slams Continued Detention of Nnamdi Kanu, Says Nigeria Can’t Have Unity Without Justice

Human rights activist and former presidential candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC), Omoyele Sowore, has condemned the continued detention of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) leader, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, describing it as a symptom of injustice and inequality in Nigeria.

Speaking in Akure, Ondo State, Sowore stressed that genuine national unity cannot exist without equality and fairness. He argued that Nigeria’s unity remains fragile because some citizens are treated as second-class, while others enjoy privilege and protection.

“No nation built on oppression and inequality can genuinely claim to be united,” he said, denouncing what he called Nigeria’s “systemic hypocrisy” in the treatment of its ethnic groups.

According to him, “We cannot have unity without justice. We cannot say we need unity when some people are treated as superior and others as inferior. We cannot have unity in a country where someone’s business is demolished simply because the government dislikes his ethnicity.

“We cannot have unity in a country where terrorists are treated better than freedom fighters. I am talking directly about Mazi Nnamdi Kanu and others who struggle for the freedom of their people.”

Sowore added that seeking justice or self-determination should not be criminalized, emphasizing that Nigeria’s creation by colonial powers made it even more important to respect all groups within it.

On Kanu’s prolonged detention, he faulted the Federal Government for holding him for over five years without clearly defining his alleged offences.

“We cannot keep a man in prison using legal technicalities to justify injustice. What is his crime? For five years, nobody can define it. That is why I have been at the forefront of the Free Nnamdi Kanu Movement,” Sowore stated.

He clarified that his advocacy for Kanu’s release was not politically motivated but driven by his commitment to justice. “If I wanted to play politics, I wouldn’t be defending someone many in power consider an enemy. But I am not that kind of politician. I stand for justice, truth, and fairness,” he said.

Sowore also criticised Nigeria’s political elite for ignoring citizens’ grievances until they are confronted by international embarrassment.

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