By Zika Bobby
Former Lagos governorship candidate of the Alliance For Democracy in 2019 election, High Chief Owolabi Salis has joined millions to mourn the passing of Chief Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu, President of Ohaneze Ndigbo.
In a tribute, the U.S based lawyer and public affairs commentator described the departed Igbo-born industrialist as a great Nigerian patriot, who had contributed greatly to the development of sports and journalism in Nigeria, through his proprietorship of Iwuanyanwu Nationale which brought fame to Nigerian soccer, and the Champion Newspapers, which contributed in lifting the sphere of journalism in Nigeria and Africa to considerable heights.
Salis, in the statement renewed his appeal to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to hearken to the popular plea of the Ndigbo, Igbo Elders, and members of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) for the release of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu.
The Onyeama Ndigbo Gburugburu of Etiti Mgboko, Abia State, said his call was necessary in view of the persistent pleas by the late Iwuanyanwu for Kanu’s release during his lifet-time, coupled with the latest concerns being raised over the worsening state of his health.
“Kanu, to me, is just a freedom fighter and if other freedom fighters are walking free, equity demands that he should be too. Yoruba spirituality demands on all true Yoruba people to demonstrate fairness and equity.
“We are tired of seeing igbo killing one another in igboland. This has gotten out of hand,” Salis lamented.
He stated that Tinubu’s release of Kanu without further delay, will be in keeping with the president’s antecedent as a patriot who along with like-minds struggled valiantly for democratic liberty in Nigeria, during the era of military rulership, adding that Tinubu’s tenure as governor of Lagos State, through his several litigations against the federal powers, which went a long way in defining and upholding the rule of law in diverse aspects that were critical to effective operation of a political federation as embodied in the Nigerian experience.
He implored the Igbo to shed every lingering vestige of the Biafran syndrome and rather key into the edifying vision of a united,virile, prosperous and greater Nigerian federation.
While lauding the Igbo for their numerous sterling qualities, which according to him are unique and uncommon, he urged that those qualities are essentially maximized within a larger Nigerian framework, just as he also called on other Nigerians to embrace their Igbo brothers where ever their paths crossed, adding that it is by so doing that the ugly specter of the Biafran experience could be said to have been banished.