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Governor Peter Mbah of Enugu State, on Thursday, met President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and asked for the release of the incarcerated leader of the defunct Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, on behalf of his state and the Southeast region.

He spoke to State House reporters after a meeting with the president in his office at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

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Mbah, who linked his appeal to the promise by President Tinubu to engender national healing and serve with compassion in his inaugural speech, expressed the hope that Tinubu would give a favourable consideration to his request.

“We also talked about the release of Nnamdi Kanu. You know, that the South East has made a collective demand to have Nnamdi Kanu released. And we basically identified with that and request, Mr. President, who in his inaugural address promised the people that he’s going to engender national healing and he’s going to serve with compassion.

“So, we’ve basically informed him that this would serve as a pointer to his administration’s extension of hands of fellowship to Ndigbo,” he said.

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The governor, who was elected on the platform of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), said he also approached the President to strengthen Enugu State’s target of growing its economy from what it is to one that is $30 billion strong in the next four years.

Mbah said he also appealed for the assistance of the federal government to explore the abundant mineral resources in Enugu State for the benefit of the people.

The governor added, “I came and frankly I brought to the President, the warm greetings and best wishes from the government and the people of Enugu State, but, above all, you may also know already that we made massive campaign promises to the people of Enugu. And we also have expressed humongous vision.

“We’ve taken a bold view of what the new government could achieve in the next four years, in terms of growing our economy from the current levels to $30 billion. And one of our core governance philosophies is to collaborate and to have partnership, and we have identified the federal government as our core partner.

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“We have a number of dormant assets in Enugu, which we believe partnering with the federal government, we’re able to transform them into productive assets.

“A lot of people do not know, but we have huge mineral resources in Enugu State. And these resources are sitting under our ground, not being productive. So, we believe with the partnership we’re trying to build with the federal government, we’re able to transform these assets into productive assets.

“Of course, you know that the growth level we have proposed is one that is going to be driven by the private sector and private sector wants the ease of doing business; and one of the core indicators of the ease of doing business is security and infrastructure. So, we also had that conversation with Mr. President.”

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Daily Trust