The lawmaker representing Abia North, Senator Orji Kalu, has called for a political solution to the issue surrounding the legal battle of the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, Nnamdi Kanu, with the Federal Government.
Kalu made the call while reacting to the recent conviction of Kanu by the Federal High Court, Abuja, on terrorism-related offences.
The former Abia State governor said he had been engaging the Federal Government over the IPOB leader’s issue.
“The problem of Nnamdi Kanu is what we need to solve [via a] political process,” the All Progressives Congress (APC) lawmaker said on Channels Television’s Politics Today.
“I have been working with the Federal Government of Nigeria on how to solve this issue, and nobody should question the decision of Justice Omotosho,” he added.
Kalu explained that while Kanu’s legal team would approach the Appeal Court to challenge the ruling of the Federal High Court, he would contact the Attorney General, Lateef Fagbemi, to advise the President on the issue at stake.
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He lamented that several people lost their jobs and sources of livelihood due to the activities of IPOB in the South-East.
According to him, dozens of Igbo have been killed in the region due to the activities of the proscribed IPOB.
Mounted Pressure On Buhari
The senator explained that he mounted pressure on the then-President, Muhammadu Buhari, to facilitate Kanu’s release in April 2017.
He acknowledged the roles played by Mamman Daura as well as the then Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, to secure Kanu’s release from detention to face trial.
“I know the pressure I personally put on President Buhari before he was released in April 2017. Nobody is talking about the Igbo who were killed,” he added.
The case lingered in court from 2015.
Last Thursday, Justice James Omotosho, Kanu to life imprisonment for terrorism.
Omotosho said he sentenced Kanu to life imprisonment on counts one, four, five, and six, instead of a death sentence.
He also sentenced the IPOB leader to 20 years imprisonment on Count Three, and five years imprisonment on Count Seven, with no option of fine.
While delivering judgment, the judge said the prosecution proved its case in the seven counts against Kanu beyond a reasonable doubt.
Omotosho stated that evidence shown by the prosecution revealed that the defendant ordered the sit-at-home order in the South-East region.
He said Kanu committed an act of terrorism against Nigeria by making a broadcast threatening that people would die and the world would be at a standstill.
He said the sentence shall run concurrently.
But a consultant to the IPOB leader, Aloy Ejimakor, vowed to challenge the life sentence
