Talks ongoing to release IPOB leader, Kanu, Deputy Speaker reveals

The Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Benjamin Kalu, has disclosed that talks are ongoing to secure the release of the detained leader of the secessionist group, the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Mazi Nnamdi Kanu.

Kanu has been in detention at the Department of State Services (DSS), since 2021 after his arrest in Kenya, and repatriation to Nigeria.

On December 15, 2023, the Supreme Court ruled that he should face trial for charges of terrorism, treasonable felony, among others, filed against him by the Federal Government.

The apex court ruling annulled the ruling of the Court of Appeal that ruled for him to be absolved of all charges filed against him.

South-East leaders have been appealing to the Federal Government to explore a political solution in freeing the IPOB leader.

According to a statement issued by the Deputy Speaker’s Chief Press Secretary, Levinus Nwabughiogu, on Tuesday, he made the disclosure while speaking on the “South East political Roundtable,” a current affairs radio programme on FLO FM in Umuahia, the Abia State capital.

Kalu also advised South-East youths to immediately stop the sit-at-home directive of the IPOB, stressing that it has scared many investors away from the region.

He said: “We can’t put all our programmes and plans on social media. He (Kanu) is my brother. Is he in the mix of what we are trying to do? Yes! It’s one of our agendas to ensure he’s released. Who wants their brother to be in jail?

“We are working underground. There’s a detailed strategy. It’s not by violence, you can’t coerce the government through violence. It has never worked and won’t work. Let’s be wiser. The wisdom is in peace. Let’s quench the violence.

“If it’s chaotic, it won’t work. Let’s cool down. Let the man see that you’ve recognised he didn’t contribute to locking him up and that he has not done anything to the South-East. We should support him and his government and not attack him. I’m standing firmly against the voice of violence, preaching peace. That is what I’m here for, this voice of peace will echo through the Villa and he will come out. Mr President was happy with what happened in Bende. That the whole country can gather together and support this project.

READ ALSO: Deputy Speaker, Kalu, dismisses report of fight with South-East governors

“Our strength does not lie in how many guns we carry, in how many people we threaten not to come out on Monday. That is not the display of the strength of an Igbo man. Igbo men are not lazy people who like sitting at home from Saturday to Sunday to Monday and go to work only on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. That is not us; we are hard-working, we are rebuilders, we are never down and when we are down, we find a way to stand on our feet raise our shoulders and rebuild again. That is my call to our people.

“Mr President gave the Ministry of Works to an Igbo son that proves himself in Ebonyi and he said, come and build what you did in Ebonyi in the entire Nigeria starting from the five states of the South-East and the only way we pay the President back is to say there will be no work on Monday?

“Look at what happened for the very first time, 15 billionaires of Igbo extraction gathered in Bende. That is to tell you that they are ready to bring their industry here; they are ready to build factories that will employ you. So, why do you scare them away? The government cannot do everything for you. Our brothers who have money want to bring it back home. Some of them want to do it but you are scaring them away. How long are we going to sell fear to our people?

“If your agitation is about the release of Nnamdi Kanu; we love our Igbo land and we love our brother and he is my brother. That he is locked up does not make him less of my brother and that you are agitating does not make you less of my brother. But I am saying that there is a better way to get it done. There are many ways to kill a rat. Let us look for other ways that we can kill this rat without destroying our home.

“Let us come together and unite and I can assure you that once we unite, there is nothing we ask this government that we cannot get, including the one you are asking for our brother, it is also achievable.”

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