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.
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