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From Aloysius Attah, Onitsha
Former national chairman, All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Chief Victor Umeh, has said the continued incarceration of leader of Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, by the Federal Government is a way of dealing with the entire Igbo nation.
Umeh in an interview with journalists, in Onitsha, yesterday, said he had told the Federal Government that the manner it was handling the case of the IPOB leader was wrong.
“They treat Nnamdi Kanu issue as a personal thing; it is not. Nnamdi Kanu enjoys the solidarity and sympathy of Igbo people because he is calling for the de-marginalisation of Ndigbo. He wants the equality of citizenship rights for all in Nigeria. Government thinks it is Nnamdi Kanu they are dealing with not knowing that they are dealing with all of us, the entire Igbo nation. It is pertinent for the Federal Government to realise that they are dealing with the entire Igbo nation and that has become so difficult for them to handle.”
Umeh said if the Federal Government addressed the grievances of Igbo things would get better.
He said Kanu’s case was simple to handle if the government could listen to the yearnings of the Igbo and ensure justice in the Nigerian state.
“Once government changes his attitudes toward the Igbo, we will embrace Nnamdi Kanu and ask him to allow this thing to lie. I know he will do it as he did during the governorship election.”
He said it was time the government realised it was not using the right approach.
“They are not. I have said this for the past six years. What I am telling you today is what I have told them for the past six years. Let them remove the hand of monkey from the pot of soup before it becomes the hand of human being. That is the way to go.”
He said an Umuahia High Court has given the Federal Government the leeway by stating that Kanu’s arrest was illegal and he should be released.
“It is a judgement of a court. So, it is better for President Buhari to obey the judgment of Umuahia High Court and allow peace to reign in Nigeria and let us move forward as one people.”
