If the words of Benjamin Kalu, Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives is anything to hold on to, then Nnamdi Kanu, Leader of the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB), would have ended the agitation for a separate country for Ndigbo, which has seen him in and out of detention.
The IPOB leader was quoted as saying that if Tinubu signed the bill for the establishment of the South East Development Commission (SEDC), which the President did on Wednesday, then it showed that the basis for the agitation for Biafra had ended, as it meant that what had been key in the hearts of Ndigbo for more than 50 years, had been achieved.
A guest of Prime Time, a public affairs programme on Arise News Television, on Thursday night, Kalu, who incidentally represents the IPOB leader in the lower chamber of the National Assembly, said he got the undertaken after visiting Kanu who is currently in detention at the facility of the Department of State Services (DSS).
“One of the things he told me was I like The Peace in the South East Project that the President came and flagged off. He sent the Vice President to flag it off in Bende on the 29th of December, 2023. He said the eight thematic areas of that peace in the South East, I like them. If I’m released from this incarceration, I’ll be in the forefront of projecting the eight thematic peaceful agenda of peace in the South East project.
“When a man starts talking like that, the followers will also talk in that manner. He’s no longer talking violence. He’s no longer talking conflict, he’s no longer talking agitation, he’s talking how do we use peace as a vehicle to heal our land. I saw him and I saw in him a man who wants peace.
“I saw a man, who was impressed that we’re taking steps towards rebuilding the zone. And I assured him that this President that I know will assent to this South East Development Commission. He told me one thing – he said – if this man signs this bill into law, it means that he truly loves South East. He told me he would lead the support for the President.”
Kalu, who said his preoccupation now was to get Tinubu to also accept the pleas of Igbo leaders to release the IPOB leader, maintained that the gesture would complete the process of bringing total peace in the zone by chasing away those using his name to commit all manner of crimes in the area, adding that the previous governments did not take the steps the President had taken to redeem the South East.
The lawmaker, who saw the SEDC Act as a gamechanger, and was emphatic that it would it would not only calm frayed nerves, but lead to massive development, said: “Watch what will happen in the South East. With the beautiful step the President has taken, a lot of things will start coming down.