President Bola Tinubu has been urged by Segun Showunmi, the head of The Alternative Movement, to seek a political solution in the issue of Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of the banned Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), who was recently given a life sentence.
Recall that a Federal High Court in Abuja found Kanu guilty on seven charges connected to terrorism.
According to Justice James Omotosho, the prosecution was able to demonstrate that Kanu’s broadcasts endorsing Biafra encouraged violence and played a role in killings in many regions of the nation.
The Department of State Services moved him to the Nigerian Correctional Center in Sokoto after the decision.
Call for National Unity
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Speaking on Monday in Abeokuta at the “Guest Forum” hosted by the Ogun State Council and the Correspondents Chapel of the Nigeria Union of Journalists, Showunmi contended that a political solution would better advance the goal of national unification.
He maintained that the country has evolved past the civil war and should avoid measures that deepen mistrust, noting that freeing Kanu would assist de-escalate insecurity in the South East rather than fuel unrest.
Showunmi noted that keeping Kanu in custody simply boosts the resolve of militant organizations operating in the region.
He highlighted that a political settlement will reassure the Igbo people that they are not targets of injustice.
“The civil war is long over and it needs to end,” he declared. The murders of Igbo people in Igboland under any pretense cannot be justified.
“Why don’t you allow us to work together to break through the glass barrier of the presidency?
“I call on the Federal Government and President Bola Tinubu that, for the benefit of this nation and the people we have lost to keeping this country together, we plead that we are now due for a political solution to Kanu’s case.
“We want the Igbos to understand that there is no conspiracy to do them injustice. We must be willing to look for a political solution since a larger good of the country is served if he is released than keeping him behind bars.
“We are energizing that audience that is simply misbehaving and killing people in the South-East by keeping him behind bars.”
Addressing concerns about the judgment itself, Showunmi noted that the judicial process must run its course but denied any charges of racial or political bias in the conviction.
“It is only the Court of Appeal that can determine if there is a miscarriage of justice or not in the case, but let nobody imagine that there is any tribalism or otherwise in that judgement,” he stated.
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