The detention of the leader of Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has continued to generate reaction from top figures in the country.

On Tuesday, media entrepreneur and publisher of Ovation International, Dele Momodu, called on the Federal Government to release the detained leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, Nnamdi Kanu.

In a post shared on his X (formerly Twitter) handle, the former presidential candidate requested the government to address the underlying causes of separatist agitation in the South-East.

Momodu’s statement was accompanied by a clip of one of Kanu’s broadcasts recorded shortly before his repatriation from Kenya by Nigerian security agents.

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He said the agitation for Biafra was deeply rooted in what he described as “decades of marginalisation and deprivation” suffered by the Igbo people.

“Shortly before his abduction from Kenya by the Nigerian government, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu made this thought-provoking broadcast in which he philosophised about the reasons he and his supporters became radicalised,” Momodu wrote.

He faulted those who condemned Kanu and his followers without, in his view, understanding the historical and political context of their agitation.

“I have taken time to listen to his critics and discovered most of them only jumped to conclusions without proper analysis of why agitation for Biafra became reignited, attractive, and fanciful after the pogrom that wasted millions of lives and destroyed unimaginable properties in the 1960s and ’70s,” he said.

Momodu quoted Kanu as saying that the “continuing marginalisation of the Igbo, and deprivation accorded some of the most energetic and vibrant brains in Africa, and globally, rekindled the Biafra sentiment.”

The Ovation publisher warned that attempts to silence or eliminate Kanu would not end the agitation, stressing that the Igbo struggle required political rather than legal or military solutions.

“Attempts by enemies of Kanu, including his own kinsmen, to exterminate him will never solve the problem. The Igbo struggle goes beyond legalese. It requires serious political reconfiguration, and urgently too,” he said.

While clarifying that he does not support violence, Momodu urged the government to engage the South-East constructively.

“I will never support violence. But any sensible government will keep the geniuses of the South-East very busy, with productive engagements, instead of this rabid hatred,” he added.

Momodu’s comments come amid renewed calls from political leaders, civil rights groups, and Igbo socio-cultural organisations for Kanu’s release and a political resolution to the ongoing separatist crisis in the region.