The Country Director/Principal Representative of German Initiative for Knowledge Transfer in Nigeria, Hon. Obinna Ichita is seeking the intervention of President Bola Tinubu for the release of the detained leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu.
Ichita, who spoke in Aba, the commercial nerve centre of Abia State yesterday after his visit to Kanu at the DSS custody, called for alternative dispute resolution, which according to him would yield a positive outcome.
Ichita, who was the 2023 Deputy Governorship candidate of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), in his address titled “Mazi Nnamdi Kanu: Insecurity in Southeast; Those behind the Trouble; And the need for a Presidential Intervention, lamented the negative impact of the continued insecurity in the southeast is having in the region and the country at large following the continued detention of the proscribed IPOB leader at the detention facility of the Department for State Security (DSS).
Ichita, a former Aba South State Constituency lawmaker in the 7th Abia State House of Assembly who stated that his visit to Kanu was fruitful towards ensuring lasting peace in the southeast said President Tinubu will leave his name engraved in the heart of easterners if he facilitates the speedy release of Kanu.
The German Country Director/Principal Representative who berated southeast leaders for their indifference towards the release of the detained IPOB leader disclosed that the growing insecurity in the southeast has forced his loved ones to cancel their occasions in the southeast for fear of being killed or kidnapped by armed men terrorising, kidnapping and killing innocent members of the public.
“I appeal to President Bola Tinubu to kindly intervene and graciously approve and direct the activation of a process that will see to the release of Mazi Kanu and the restoration of peace and security in Southeast through negotiation and alternative dispute resolution mechanism.
“A timely commencement of this process will achieve the desired objective.
Why the hullaballoo about Nnamdi Kanu’s release?
“Further delay may defeat this goal as some may view such a gesture as a mere political strategy.
“The effects of the release of Mazi Kanu by President Tinubu may be analyzed from different perspectives; Security, Commerce, Transportation, Politics and Diplomacy etc.
“Many are in agreement that the release of Mazi Kanu by the President will not only portray the President as a unifier, but also that it will ultimately showcase Nigeria as another example of Africans solving their problems without “external directives”.
“In the last two weeks, I have had a series of meetings with Mazi Nnamdi Kanu at the DSS Headquarters, Abuja.
“We discussed a lot of issues around the restoration of Peace and security in the Southeast. Any development effort that does not consider the primacy of security cannot be said to be robust.
“On the strength of my previous conversations with Mazi Kanu on the 4th of November 2021 on the same subject matter, I advised the Federal Government of Nigeria then led by former President Buhari, on the model that I believed would lead to a predictable outcome in the attempt to address the issues that threaten National Security with particular reference to the Southeast.
“My argument then was that the release of Mazi Kanu would contribute in no small ways to the cessation of hostilities in the Southeast of Nigeria.”
By Sunny Nwankwo @TheNation
