Nnamdi Kanu: Enugu Residents Demand Fair Trial

A cross-section of Enugu residents, Thursday, advised President Muhammadu Buhari to ensure fairness in the trial of the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu.

According to them, Nnamdi Kanu has championed the Igbo plight very well, considering the alleged level of marginalisation which the Southeast region has experienced since the nation’s independence.

A retired civil servant, Ebenezer Ossai, said, “What Nnamdi Kanu stands for is the correction of the age-long marginalisation of the Southeast in the nation’s polity. He is neither a terrorist nor a bandit.
“There is nothing he does that other ethnic nationalities in Nigeria do not project. Afinifere, Sunday Igbogho, Middle-Belt people, Niger-Deltans, among others, clamour for the restructuring of Nigeria. That is the crux of what the IPOB clamours for.

“Let Buhari use him to regain his lost image in the Igbo nation. It requires a political solution and not to vilify him. Already, his followership counts in millions, and anything untoward could spark protests. Nigeria should be tired of ethnic violence henceforth.”

A politician, Chief Mrs Ginika Mba, said, “Nnamdi Kanu means a lot to us. I doubt if he has committed any offence to warrant the level of pursuit he has received from the Buhari government. He is simply after good governance.

“Remember that his Eastern Security Network was aimed at safeguarding the old Eastern region against the mayhem of herders, which this government has refused to declare as terrorists. Whatever exacerbated the outlook of the outfit was the betrayal by a governor in the Southeast which pushed them to the wall.

“I advise Buhari to either ensure that justice is done to Nnamdi Kanu by ensuring fair hearing or find a truce with him to reassure the Igbo nation that indeed they belong to the larger Nigeria. Nnamdi Kanu is simply Igbo-personified.”

A student, Ejiofor Mba, said, “Nigeria won’t be able to contain the uprising should Mr Kanu be subjected to inhuman treatment because of his efforts to right the wrongs meted to Ndigbo overtime. An average South-easterner sees him as a hero.

“In conflict resolution, both sides of the coin are weighed. It will be easier to take the positives from the Kanu agitation than treat him like a common criminal.”

Mr Kanu was arrested and repatriated to Nigeria, Nigeria’s attorney general and minister of justice, Abubakar Malami, said Tuesday.

He was later arraigned at a Federal High Court in Abuja, and remanded in the custody of the Department of State Security.

The trial judge, Mrs Binta Nyako, fixed 26th and 27th July, 2021 for ‘accelerated’ hearing of his case.