The South East has bled so much. Let Nnamdi Kanu be freed, if that is what it would take to restore peace in the region.
By Emeka Alex Duru
In his 2022 Easter message, the erudite Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, Hassan Kukah, had advised that an issue that needed to be addressed before the 2023 general election was reconciling Nigerians torn apart along ethnic, religious and tribal lines. He accused the then President Muhammadu Buhari administration of promoting division among the people on the basis of ethnicity, religion and region.
“The greatest challenge for Nigeria is not even the 2023 elections. It is the prospects for the reconciliation of our people. Here, the Buhari administration sadly has divided our people on the basis of ethnicity, religion and region, in a way that we have never witnessed in our history.
“This carefully choreographed agenda has made Nigerians vulnerable and ignited the most divisive form of identity consciousness among our people. Years of friendships, cultural exchange and collaboration built over time have now come under serious pressure from stereotyping,” he noted.
Kukah also spoke on pardon granted to over 150 Nigerians serving various terms of imprisonment then, adding; “The more serious challenge is to immediately free all innocent Nigerians who are held captive and whose only crime is that they are living in Nigeria”. This is the big task before President Bola Tinubu over the detained leader of the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu. The argument here is not on whether Kanu is innocent or not but using his freedom to relax the volatile climate in his South East region of birth.
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Of late, there have been moves and suggestions by well-meaning Nigerians for a political solution to the Kanu saga, among which was the meeting by the South East governors on Tuesday, July 2, where they resolved to meet President Tinubu to press for his release. According to the Chairman of Forum and Governor of Imo state, Senator Hope Uzodinma, the governors resolved to visit Mr. President to discuss all pressing issues concerning the South East region. “The Forum also deliberated and resolved to interface with the Federal Government to secure the release of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu.”
The move by the governors came on the heels of a recent initiative by over 50 members of the House of Representatives from different parts of Nigeria and political parties, who wrote to the President to invoke Section 174 of the Constitution of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended) and Section 107(1) of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, 2015 for the release of the detained IPOB leader.
The legislators who tagged themselves as Concerned Federal Lawmakers for Peace and Security in the South East, had in their three-page letter, dated June 19, urged the President to direct the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi SAN, to invoke his powers of nolle prosequi under the provisions of Section 174(1) of the Constitution and Section 107(1) of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act 2015, and cause the release of Kanu from detention and discontinue his trial.
The signatories include Hon Obi Aguocha (Abia), Hon Ikenga Ugochinyere (Imo), Hon. Aliyu Mustapha (Kaduna), Hon Midala Balami (Borno), Hon Afam Ogene (Anambra), Hon. Abiante Awaji-Inombek (Rivers), Hon Dominic Okafor (Anambra), Hon Etanabene Benedict (Delta), Hon. Shehu Dalhatu (Katsina), Hon Chinedu Emeka Martins (Imo), Hon. Matthew Nwogu (Imo), Hon. Muhammed Buba Jagere (Yobe), Hon Peter Aniekwe (Anambra), Hon Koki Sagir (Kano), Hon Amobi Oga (Abia), Hon Gwacham Chinwe (Anambra), Hon Uchenna Okonkwo (Anambra), Hon. Abdulmaleek Danga (Kogi), Hon. Osi Nkemkama (Ebonyi), and others.
Freeing Kanu from detention will help ease the atmosphere of violence and restiveness that has plagued the South East region and create room for economic growth and development, the lawmakers argued.
The action, they added, would demonstrate a commitment to upholding the principles of justice and fairness, which are the bedrock of our democracy. The move, they further argued, would pave the way for peace initiatives, economic revitalization, and a renewed sense of belonging among the citizens of the Southeast. The apex Igbo socio-cultural organisation, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, presidential candidate of the Labour Party, LP, in the 2023 election, Peter Obi and others, had made similar demands. Senators from the zone and South East House of Representatives Caucus, have also joined the campaign.
Truth be told, Kanu’s detention is a big issue in the South East. To many, he represents many things. Some see him as a hero who had stepped forth to challenge the criminal exclusion of his people from a nation they had literally spilt their blood to build. Others think that he is not, but one whose actions have set the zone back in socio-economic development. All are however agreed that Kanu is an issue that cannot be wished away in the region, nay the country.
Since June 2021 that Kanu has been in detention over charges bordering on terrorism following his repatriation from Kenya, the South East has been in turmoil. Many towns and communities in the zone have remained shadows of themselves ever since. Within the period, the region has remained a theatre of violence and restiveness with his supporters employing different strategies to press for his release.
One of such measures is the weekly sit-at-home which takes place every Monday in many parts of the region. The first of the directive was issued by the IPOB on August 9, 2021, to prevail on the Federal Government to release him. Each time such order is proclaimed, markets, schools, banks, motor parks, and even worship centres are shut and vehicles withdrawn from the roads, out of fear of reprisals by the enforcers or in solidarity to the cause.
Even when the IPOB high command had relaxed the weekly Monday directive, renegades in the organisation and other amorphous groups have gone ahead with the enforcement, in the process, disrupting movements and economic activities in the region.
Anambra State alone losses estimated N19 billion any day the exercise takes place. Other states in the region have their own tales of economic losses on such occasions. Lives have equally been lost in the process. Eight years ago, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) had rated the South East the most human security secure geopolitical zone in Nigeria. This is no longer the case. In place of development, chaos, insecurity and outright lawlessness have taken roots.
Something needs to be done to reverse the ugly trend. The belief by many is that releasing Kanu will go a long way in reducing the tempo of agitation and the climate of insecurity in the zone. This is especially as the detained IPOB leader, has indicated his readiness for negotiation with the federal government on his case.
Tinubu should seize the initiative and bring a closure on the topic. The South East has bled so much. Let Nnamdi Kanu be freed, if that is what it would take to restore peace in the region.