Olayiwola Matthew
Orji Kalu, senator representing Abia north, says separatist agitations linked to Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), have claimed more than 30,000 lives and ruined livelihoods across the south-east.
The former Abia governor’s remarks came after a federal high court in Abuja sentenced the IPOB leader to life imprisonment last week.
Speaking on ‘Sunday Politics’, a Channels Television programme, Kalu said the focus on security casualties has overshadowed the scale of civilian deaths and economic losses recorded in the region.
He asked political actors and supporters to avoid escalating tensions and instead pursue a political solution to the crisis.
“I wouldn’t like to talk about this issue. It’s not the time for noise-making or fighting. It’s a time for sober reflection,” he said.
“We have to solve this problem holistically. Do you know that over 30,000 Igbos were killed? People who have shops lost their businesses.
“I used to sell my own manufactured products in Aba. I know what the numbers were. But people are just talking about soldiers killed and not the rest of them.
“The problem of Nnamdi Kanu is what we need to solve through political process.
“Just as the theory Bianca Ojukwu and Mike Uzor Kalu propounded, they (people) should stop the noise and focus on the settlement with the federal government.
“Let me tell you. I have been working with the federal government on how to solve this issue.”
IGBOS ARE BEING EMOTIONAL
Kalu said many victims lost everything during the sporadic violence, including his late mother’s friend whose rice business was destroyed.
“My mother’s friend had a rice shop. The woman who owed my mother about N4.2 million. But they ransacked the old woman’s shops and she went bankrupt. Nobody talks about it,” he lamented.
“Let Igbos stop being emotional. I want us to settle down, go on our knees and find a way that the man can be released. It’s part of my job to do it.”
He recalled urging the late President Muhammadu Buhari administration to grant Kanu bail in 2017 as a pre-condition for joining the All Progressives Congress (APC).
OMOTOSHO ONLY DELIVERED THE LAW
The ex-governor also defended James Omotosho, the presiding judge who convicted Kanu last week, and said criticisms of the verdict were misplaced.
“Nobody should question the decision of Justice Omotosho. If you are displeased, you go to the appellate court. It’s not to start insulting the man,” the senator said.
He criticised Kanu for being “unruly and unnecessarily aggressive towards the judge”, contrasting it with his own conduct during his corruption trial.
“If you remember, I was given 12 years (imprisonment), but I never insulted the judge,” he said.
“The other day, I saw the judge at the national assembly when he came to be confirmed as a supreme court justice. I embraced him and gave him all court seats.
“We must condemn certain behaviours. You cannot rant in a court of competent jurisdiction. I take exception to it.
“People might say it is good. Justice Omotosho is just a messenger of the court. It is his job.
“If you are displeased, you go to the appellate court. It’s not to start insulting the man.”
The presiding judge had sentenced the IPOB leader to life imprisonment on counts one, two, four, five and six — opting against the death penalty.
Kanu received a 20-year sentence for the third charge, which related to being part of a banned terrorist organisation, and another five years for the seventh charge concerning the illegal import of a radio communication device.
Neither sentence allows for a monetary penalty as an alternative.
The court determined that his threats and the sit-at-home orders across the south-east region were terrorist acts under Nigerian law.