Discussions on Kanu’s release are still going on – Deputy Speaker

The leader of the separatist Indigenous People of Biafra, Mr. Nnamdi Kanu, is being worked to secure his release, according to Benjamin Kalu, Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives.

There are rumours that Kanu was arrested in Kenya, returned to Nigeria, and is now being held at the Department of State Services since 2021.

On December 15, the Supreme Court granted permission for his trial regarding the terrorist charges brought by the Federal Government against him.

His problems started in 2015 when he was detained by the federal government and charged with eleven felonies, including managing an illegal society, terrorism, treasonable felony, publishing defamatory material, unlawful firearm possession, and improper importation of goods. He was also charged with four other defendants.

After the military broke into his family’s house in Afara-Ukwu, close to Umuahia, Abia State, in September 2017, just a few months after he was given bail due to health concerns, Kanu left Nigeria.

He remained at large until 2021, when he was apprehended in Kenya and brought back to his native Nigeria.

There have been requests for a political solution to the problem, particularly from the Ohanaeze Indigbo.

On Tuesday, during a virtual appearance on FLO FM’s “South East Political Roundtable,” a current affairs programme in Umuahia, Kalu stated that negotiations to release Kanu were still in progress.

In a statement released on Tuesday, his Chief Press Secretary, Levinus Nwabughiogu, quoted Kalu as telling young people in the South-East to abandon the IPOB’s sit-at-home directive because it was scaring away many investors.

In addition to discussing the benefits of the recently launched Peace In South-East Project in the Bende Local Government Area of Abia State, Kalu urged anyone in possession of a weapon to give it up and support the initiative’s non-violent strategy for resolving security issues and other popular unrest.

“We can’t post all of our plans and programmes on social media,” he stated. He’s my brother, Kanu. Is he involved in our current endeavours? Indeed! Our goal is to see to it that he is freed. Who would want to see their brother imprisoned?

“We operate below ground. There is a thorough plan in place. It’s not through violence; using violence to pressure the government is impossible. It won’t work and has never worked. Let’s gain more insight. Peace be with the wisdom. Shake off the violence, please.

It won’t function if it’s disorganised. Come on, let’s relax. Let the man know that you acknowledge that he had nothing to do with the South-East and that he was not a factor in his imprisonment. Rather than opposing him, we ought to stand by him and his administration. Preaching peace, I’m firmly opposing the voice of violence. That is my purpose in being here; he will emerge when this voice of peace reverberates throughout the villa. The President expressed satisfaction with the events in Bende. that everyone in the nation can come together and lend support to this endeavour.

He demanded that IPOB stop calling Monday sit-at-homes.

“Our strength does not lie in the number of guns we carry or the number of people we threaten to not go out on Monday,” he declared. That isn’t how an Igbo man would demonstrate his strength. Igbo men are not slothful individuals who prefer to spend Saturday, Sunday, and Monday at home and only work on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. That is not who we are; we are industrious, resilient, and never give up. Even in the face of adversity, we manage to get back up, dust ourselves off, and start the rebuilding process all over again. I’m calling on our people to do that.

President Bola Tinubu, the Deputy Speaker continued, “was not against the South-East.”

The only way we can repay the President is by saying there won’t be any work on Monday. “Mr. President gave the Ministry of Works to an Igbo son who proved 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?

“Observe what transpired when 15 Igbo billionaires came together in Bende for the first time. This is to inform you that they are prepared to establish factories that will hire you and bring their industry here. Why then do you frighten them off? Not everything can be done for you by the government. The wealthy brothers among us want to take their wealth back home. You are frightening away some of them, even though they want to do it. How much longer will we instill fear in our people?

If your concern is with Nnamdi Kanu’s release, then know that we adore our Igbo homeland, our brother, and he is my brother. He is still my brother despite being imprisoned, and you are still my brother despite your agitation. However, I’m saying that there’s a better way to finish it. A rat can be killed in a variety of ways. Let’s search for alternative methods to get rid of this rat without ruining our house.

He said, “Let’s get together and unite. I promise you that once we do, there is nothing we can’t ask this government for—including the one you’re asking for our brother—it is also attainable.”