There are indications that the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, who has been agitating for the creation of the Republic of Biafra from Nigeria, may soon renounce such battle and embrace peace with the federal government, if the visit of the former Abia state governor, Orji Uzor Kalu, today, Friday to him at Kuje Prison, in the nation’s Federal Capital Territory (FCT) is anything to go by.
Nnamdi Kanu was arrested by the operatives of the State Security Service on October 14 last year and was charged alongside three others; David Nwawuisi, Benjamin Madubugwu and Chidiebere Onwudiwe, for treasonable felony.
Orji Kalu, who recently defected recently to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), told news men shortly after his meeting with Nnamdi and other detainees that they had given him the “go-ahead to talk on their behalf” with the Federal Government.
“I came to talk to him to talk to his supporters. I think they will have a change of attitude. We are all Nigerians. If both himself and the Federal Government are genuinely interested, we can come to a common ground. It is a possibility.”
On the decision of the Federal High Court hearing the case against Nnamdi Kanu and his colleagues to grant partial protection to prosecution witnesses, Orji Kalu said that the practice has long existed, saying: “the protection of witnesses is nothing new in law. We can do that but it may not get to that stage; if we talk to each other well. It is possible to settle out of court if both parties are realistic.
“Now he has given me the go-ahead to talk on his behalf. And if I can speak on his behalf, then the process will begin; and if things go as they ought to, we might not get to the stage of having to require protection of witnesses.
“If he trusts me and the Federal Government trusts me, I don’t see how this will not work. I know the government well. I am a member of the ruling party. So I can use my position well,” Mr. Kalu said.
Nnamdi Mr. Kanu and the three other members of IPOB are being tried at the Abuja Division of the Federal High Court.
The court, had on December 17, 2015 ordered the SSS to release Nnamdi Kanu unconditionally, but that ruling, delivered by Justice Adeniyi Ademola who is being accused of fraud and is currently being prosecuted, was upturned by another judge, John Tsoho, in January. [myad]
