A group allied with President Bola Tinubu has denied that its patron, High Chief Government Ekpemupolo, known as Tompolo, called for the release of the Indigenous People of Biafra leader, Nnamdi Kanu.
The PBAT Door To Door Movement also said Tompolo was not behind a purported 21-day ultimatum given to the Federal Government to free Mr Kanu.
In a statement on Sunday, the National Coordinator of the group, Sunday Asuku, said, “This claim is entirely baseless and the handiwork of desperate propagandists, fake news merchants, fifth columnists, and agents of disunity.”
The denial comes as Nnamdi Kanu is expected to open his defence on Monday in the terrorism case against him at the Federal High Court in Abuja.
The group alleged that the people behind the story aimed to create tension and turn the government against Tompolo. It said their plan had “fallen like a pack of cards in the face of his exemplary commitment to national peace and development.”
The statement suggested that Tompolo’s support for President Bola Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda had unsettled his detractors.
“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,” Mr Asuku said.
The group firmly stated that Tompolo had never made any statement on the matter. “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 statement read.
It described the use of social media to spread such stories as reckless. “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,” it said.
The movement has called for a security agency investigation into the matter. “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 statement concluded.
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