Uzo Nwogu
Mr. Pelumi Olajengbesi, one of the counsels to the Yoruba nation agitator, Chief Sunday Adeniyi Adeyemo, popularly called Sunday Igboho, has urged Yoruba leaders to emulate leaders from Igboland to secure the release of Igboho.
He opined that some Igbo leaders had recently visited President Muhammadu Buhari and asked him to ensure the unconditional release of the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, (IPOB) Mazi Nnamdi Kanu.
Olajengbesi is a legal practitioner and the Managing Partner at Law Corridor, in a statement on Sunday, said Igboho was seeking the welfare of his people and should not be abandoned in his incarceration and travail.
The statement was titled, “Sunday Igboho & Nnamdi Kanu’s travail: Yoruba leaders need to learn from the Igbos.
Olajengbesi said, “Too often in socio-political conversations, claims of the Igbo man’s disunity is held as a badgering totem to rationalize the ‘how and why’ of the entire tribe receiving the short end of the political stick in the chequered history of this country. From suffering through the civil war pogrom to targeted discrimination in the eco-political and federal setup of Nigeria which has stemmed and fed a visibly growing dissatisfaction with the idea of Nigeria in the Land of the Rising Sun. The Igbos have been fingered as the victims of their own lack of cohesion as a single bargaining force in the acquisition and application of power to the benefit of their people- a popular opinion which, however, was only last week dispatched by the show of communal and tribal loyalty to one of their own, Mr. Nnamdi Kanu who has been in the swirling storm of President Buhari’s government’s spite and apprehension.
“Mr. Nnamdi Kanu, the Most Supreme Leader of the rudely proscribed self-determination group IPOB, has been a reluctant guest of the DSS and his controversies and battles courted the attention and compassion of some of the most senior and respected elders of his tribe who rallied before Mr. President to make representations on his behalf to seek an amicable resolution of the trial of one they describe as ‘our son’. The visit which was led by a First Republican Parliamentarian and Minister of Aviation, Chief Mbazulike Amaechi, underscores the calculated compassion of the Igbos to one of their own even at the risk of opprobrium and scorn in federal circles. They could truly be no better show of tribal love, unity and commitment which puts paid to insinuations of Igbo disunity. “
He added, “As a Yoruba man, the irony isn’t lost on me. As opposed to the wrongfully held conclusions on Igbo unity, the Yoruba ethnic group are touted as one bound by a rich cultural heritage that has forged a communal bond that eschews strife and neglect of selves and fellow tribesmen. While the first part is indisputably true, the latter part which envinces a claim of unity has been tested and found wanting in the regrettable contrivances of the federal government against a proud son of the land which has gone without strong comments or purposeful action by the leaders of Yoruba Land. I speak with no hesitation about Chief Sunday Igboho whose ordeal parallels that of Mr. Nnamdi Kanu in original intent, blackmail and oppression by the powers that be. Unlike the latter whose kinsmen and kiths have rallied around in an unequivocal display of affection and compassion, Chief Sunday Igboho and his associates continue to be hounded like orphans without roots and bearing.
“With all due respect to the elders and leaders of the Yoruba tribe and without an iota of spite, the Yoruba Leaders have failed Chief Sunday Igboho and his aides. Those on whom the Yorubas have pled fealty as Leaders, Kings, Kingmakers and Bearers of the Authority of the Tribe have turned a blind eye and a deaf ear to the sufferings and agony of Chief Sunday Igboho whose seeming offence is seeking a better lot for his people. While there may be hesitation with his audacity, vigour, personality, there is no questioning the integrity of his intentions.
“Therefore, and as a matter of urgency, Yoruba Leaders must urgently borrow a leaf from Igbo Leaders by approaching President Buhari to secure the liberty of Chief Sunday Igboho and that of all his associates from the contrived charges against them. The hounding of Chief Sunday Igboho and his aides is a needless discrimination with political undertones that serves no true unifying purpose for the Yorubas or Nigeria as a whole. In fact, at a time when disaffection with the status quo has led on to tears in the fabric of our unity, it would be self-defeating of the Buhari-led government to reply to legitimate queries of the state of the nation with antagonism and badly hidden spite.
“This is a defining moment not just in the history of Nigeria but in that of the Yorubas, too. The Igbo Leaders have shown the world how it is done for a lack of precedent, the Yorubas must now go and learn from the east. I mean prominent Yoruba sons and daughters with a voice and a platform, I refer further to religious, cultural and political leaders who have the ears of Mr. President and on whom is vested the trust and expectations of Leadership. It is a time for action and not banter, words of reconciliation and not finger-pointing. It is, indeed, a time for communal pride and ancestry to overwhelm the differences that have driven a wedge amongst our people.”
It could be recalled that President Muhammadu Buhari, had on Friday said he will consider the unconditional release of Kanu.
Buhari’s spokesman, Femi Adesina, had a statement said the President made the commitment on Friday when he hosted Igbo leaders led by a former Minister of Aviation, Pa Mbazulike Amaechi.
Other Igbo leaders in attendance included a former Governor of Anambra State, Dr. Chukwuemeka Ezeife, the Co-Chair, Interfaith Dialogue Forum for Peace, Bishop Sunday Onuoha also of the Methodist Church, Chief Goddy Uwazurike and Mr. Tagbo Amaechi.
Federal Government officials who were present during the visit were: The Chief of Staff to the President, Prof. Ibrahim Gambari; the National Security Adviser, (NSA) Maj. Gen. Babagana Monguno (retd.); the Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation, Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu; the Minister of Labour and Employment, Senator Chris Ngige; the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Geoffrey Onyeama and the Minister of State for Education, Chukwuemeka Nwajuiba.
Buhari said he will consider the unconditional release of Kanu, though, according to him, such a decision contradicts the doctrine of Separation of Powers between the executive and the judiciary.
Buhari said, “You’ve made an extremely difficult demand on me as leader of this country. The implication of your request is very serious. In the last six years, since I became President, nobody would say I have confronted or interfered in the work of the judiciary.
“God has spared you, and given you a clear head at this age, with very sharp memory. A lot of people half your age are confused already. But the demand you made is heavy. I will consider it.”
Buhari remarked of his policy of non-interference with the Judiciary and said he was of the position that Kanu would subject himself to judicial process when the IPOB leader reportedly jumped bail, got arrested and was brought back to Nigeria.
Buhari said, “I said the best thing was to subject him to the system. Let him make his case in court, instead of giving very negative impressions of the country from the outside. I feel it’s even a favour to give him that opportunity.”
The President condoled with Chief Amaechi, who recently buried his wife, and prayed that her soul would rest in peace.
Amaechi, the 93-year-old statesman had told the President that the situation in the South-East was painful and pathetic.
He decried that businesses had collapsed, education was crumbling, and that there was fear everywhere.
He appealed to Buhari to adopt a political, rather than a military solution, to the problem.
He promised that if Kanu was released to him as the only First Republic Minister still alive, the POB leader would no longer say the things he had been saying.
The nongenarians said he could control Kanu as he is highly respected in Igboland today and not that he has anything to do with IPOB.
Amaechi said, “I don’t want to leave this planet without peace returning to my country.
“I believe in one big, united Nigeria, a force in Africa. Mr President, I want you to be remembered as a person who saw Nigeria burning, and you quenched the fire.”