Senate Minority Leader, Enyinaya Abaribe, says given the same circumstances, he would stand surety for the detained leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, again.
Senator Abaribe had stood surety for Kanu before the latter jumped bail and fled the country in 2017.
Speaking on TVC’s ‘Journalists Hangout’ on Wednesday, however, the lawmaker explained that he stood surety for Kanu because it was a condition imposed by the court.
He said that since the court ordered that one of Kanu’s sureties must be a senator, and he was the chairman of the Southeast Senators Caucus then, he had to offer himself.
When asked if he would agree to stand as surety for Kanu again, Abaraibe said, “If the circumstances are the same, why not?”.
He explained: “He’s our son. He’s from our state (Abia). He said it himself that he ran for his dear life.
“There is a difference between jumping bail and escaping for your life.
“I went back to court and deposed that on the basis of the principle of ‘last seen’, that the last people seen with him were soldiers of the Nigerian Army who were invading his father’s residence.
“The judge ultimately ruled that she was revoking bail and issued a warrant of arrest, thereby removing us from the responsibility of providing him. A lot of people did not understand.”
Senator Abaribe said he did not feel betrayed that Kanu fled the country, as, according to him, he ran for his life.