Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Benjamin Okezie Kalu has given a ray of hope on the release of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu from detention.
DAILY POST recalls that the Supreme Court recently ordered the retrial of Kanu, the leader of the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra, IPOB, who has been in detention for a long while now.
His incarceration has generated a lot of agitations, including the sit-at-home being observed on Mondays in the South-East region.
But speaking virtually on the “South East political Roundtable”, a current affairs radio programme on FLO FM in Umuahia on Tuesday, Kalu said that talks were ongoing to free Kanu.
He, however, advised the youth to ensure that the observance of sit-at-home must stop, emphasizing that it was scaring many investors who want to contribute to the development of the region.
Kalu, who also spoke on the gains of the recently unveiled Peace In South East Project (PISE-P) in Bende Local Government Area of Abia State, asked those carrying arms to lay down their weapons and join in the non-kinetic approach being canvassed to end the security challenges and other agitations of the people.
Kalu called for support to enable the government of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to deliver optimally, saying that the president was interested in the development of the South-East.
He said: “We can’t put all our programs and plans on social media. He’s my brother. Is he in the mix of what we are trying to do? Yes! It’s one of our agenda 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.
“Our strength does not lie in how many guns we carry, or 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 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 and raise our shoulders and rebuild again, that is my call to our people.
We can bring you into the rebuilding that we are doing. We can bring you into the reconciliation. We can bring you in for rehabilitation and the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria is interested in the Igbos.
“Look at what he has done by giving us the Chief of Naval Staff which we never got in the last eight years. Did I just mention the Naval Chief, what about the minister of works, Senator Dave Umahi, my good friend?
Mr President gave the minister of works to an Igbo son that 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 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? 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?
“This is a new year. This is a new era. This is a new dawn and I urge you, come and join hands with us. We will make you the leaders of this project. Don’t lead those carrying guns, let’s give you responsibility, let’s give you a task.
“And I call on all of you who are in support of the sit-at-home on Monday, it is time to stop. It is time to stop the sit-at-home on Mondays.
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 the other ways that we can kill this rat without destroying our home.
You don’t leave the job only for the governors. Let them play from the top, we play from the bottom, then we meet halfway. Then, solve our problems.
“The peace in South-East project is not politics, it’s about a community project anchored on peace. That’s why members of the PISE-P are from different political parties.
“I can assure you, through this project the South-East will not remain the same. All the boys who are carrying guns, there’s hope for them, because we will get them gainfully employed, they won’t be wasted”.