By Tony Okafor
Former National Chairman of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Chief Victor Umeh, has said that President Muhammadu Buhari has made the simple case of of the leader of Indigenous People of Biafra( IPOB) Nnamdi Kanu, complex for Nigeria.
Umeh, the Senator formerly representing Anambra Central Senatorial District said continued incarceration of the IPOB leader by the Buhari-led Government was an unjust bruise on the Igbo nation.
Umeh said this in Onitsha during the 20th year Episcopacy celebration of Most Rev. Dr. Valerian Okeke, the Archbishop of Onitsha Catholic Archdiocese at the at Basilica of Holy Trinity.
Umeh said he had advised the Federal Government that the manner it was handling Kanu ‘s case was not the best way, adding that the matter had become too big for Nigeria to handle.
He said,“They treat Nnamdi Kanu issue as a personal thing. It is not. Nnamdi Kanu enjoys the solidarity and sympathy of Igbo people because he fights for them, he is calling for the demarginalisation of Ndigbo. He wants equality of all NIgerians. Government thinks it is Nnamdi Kanu they are dealing with, not knowing that they are dealing with all of us, the entire Igbo nation.”
“It is pertinent for Federal Government to realise that they are dealing with the entire Igbo nation and that has become so difficult for them to handle.”
“The issue of Nnamdi Kanu is a simple thing to handle if they listen to the yearnings of Igbo people to ensure justice in the Nigerian nation.
“If they do it, there will be no problem. Once Government changes it’s attitudes toward Igbo, we will embrace Nnamdi Kanu and ask him to allow this thing to lie. I know he will do it as he did during the governorship election.”
“When the last governorship election became so tense, when it became obvious that the election may not take place, they reached out to Nnamdi Kanu who called off the sit-at-home and ordered that everybody should go to the election. People then became confident and participated in the election..
“They are not using the right approach.
“They are not. I have said this for the past six years. What I am telling you today is what I had told them for the past six years.Let them remove the hand of monkey from the pot of soup before it becomes the hand of human being. That is the way to go.”
“An Umuahia High Court has given the federal government the leeway by stating that Kanu’s arrest was illegal and therefore he should be released.
“It is a judgement of a court. So, it is better for President Buhari to obey the judgment of Umuahia High Court and allow peace to reign in NIgeria and let us move forward,” Umeh stated.
