Tompolo distances self from call for Kanu’s release

The leadership of the PBAT Door To Door Movement, a pro-Bola Tinubu group, has said its Grand Patron, High Chief Government Ekpemupolo, popularly known as Tompolo, is not part of the call for the release of the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, Nnamdi Kanu.

The group also dissociated Tompolo from a purported 21-day ultimatum issued to the Federal Government to release Kanu.

“This claim is entirely baseless and the handiwork of desperate propagandists, fake news merchants, fifth columnists, and agents of disunity,” the National Coordinator of the group, Sunday Asuku, said in a statement on Sunday.

Kanu is expected to open his defence on Monday in the terrorism charges filed against him at the Federal High Court in Abuja.

This follows the adjournment of the trial by Justice James Omotosho of the court on Friday.

The PUNCH had reported that Justice Omotosho granted the adjournment after Kanu informed the court that his former legal team, led by a former Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Chief Kanu Agabi, SAN, had yet to release his case file to him.

Commenting further, Asuku said the orchestrators of the news sought to create tensions and instigate the FG against Tompolo, saying the move had “fallen like a pack of cards in the face of his exemplary commitment to national peace and development.”

He pointed out that those behind the narrative had been unsettled by Tompolo’s support for President Bola Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda.

The movement urged security agencies to investigate and bring those behind the news to book.

Asuku said, “These elements are bent on creating tension and undermining the patriotic efforts of a man who has remained an icon of peace, unity, national development, socio-economic and political diversity, regardless of tribal, religious, zonal or political affiliation.

“It is evident that Chief Tompolo’s unwavering support for President Bola Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda has unsettled certain groups uncomfortable with his growing influence in advancing national stability and economic progress. However, their attempt to malign his image through fabricated narratives will fail.

“For the avoidance of doubt, at no time did Chief Tompolo issue any statement or directive regarding the legal proceedings involving Mazi Nnamdi Kanu. The matter is before a competent court of law, and any attempt to interfere with due process would be both unpatriotic and unlawful.

“The PBAT Door To Door Movement wishes to emphasise that issues bordering on national unity and security must be treated with utmost responsibility and sensitivity.

“The reckless use of social media to circulate divisive propaganda not only undermines the integrity of public discourse but also poses a serious threat to Nigeria’s collective peace and development.”

ASuku added, “We therefore call on the Department of State Services and other relevant security agencies to thoroughly investigate and bring to book those behind this reckless act. The deliberate spread of misinformation poses a grave threat to Nigeria’s unity and security, and such actions must not be allowed to go unpunished