Efforts ongoing to secure release of Nnamdi Kanu – Deputy Speaker Kalu

Benjamin Kalu, the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, has revealed that there are ongoing efforts to free Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra.

Kalu made this revelation while speaking on the “South East Political Roundtable,” a current affairs radio programme on FLO FM in Umuahia, on Tuesday.

The lawmaker also urged the youths of the South-East to abandon the sit-at-home order of IPOB, saying that it was driving away many investors from the region.

Kalu praised the benefits of the recently launched Peace in the South-East Project in the Bende Local Government Area of Abia State.

He implored the youths who were armed to drop their weapons and embrace the non-violent approach that the initiative was advocating to end the security issues and other grievances of the people.

He said, “We can’t expose all our programmes and plans on social media. Kanu is my brother. Is he part of what we are trying to do? Yes! It’s one of our goals to ensure he’s released. Who wants their brother to be in prison?

“We are working secretly. There’s a comprehensive strategy. It’s not through violence; you can’t force the government through violence. It has never worked and won’t work. Let’s be smarter. Wisdom is in peace. Let’s calm down the violence.

“If it’s chaotic, it won’t work. Let’s chill out. Let the man see that you’ve acknowledged that he didn’t contribute to locking him up and that he has not done anything to the south-east. We should back him and his government and not attack him. I’m firmly against the voice of violence, preaching peace.

“That is what I’m here for; this voice of peace will resonate through the villa, and he will come out. Mr. President was pleased with what happened in Bende. That the whole country can come together and support this project.”

The Deputy Speaker called for a stop to the Monday sit-at-home that IPOB was demanding.

Kalu said, “Our strength does not lie in how many guns we have or in how many people we intimidate not to come out on Monday. That is not a display of the strength of an Igbo man. Igbo men are not idle people who like sitting at home from Saturday to Sunday to Monday and go to work only on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday.

“That is not us; we are hard-working, we are rebuilders, we are never down, and when we are down, we find a way to stand on our feet, raise our shoulders, and rebuild again. That is my call to our people.”

The Deputy Speaker also said that President Bola Tinubu was not against the South-East.

He said, “Mr. President gave the Ministry of Works to an Igbo son that proved himself in Ebonyi, and he said, Come and build what you did in Ebonyi in the whole of Nigeria, starting from the five states of the South-East, and the only way we repay the President is to say there will be no work on Monday.

“Look at what happened for the first time: 15 billionaires of Igbo origin gathered in Bende. That is to tell you that they are ready to bring their industry here; they are ready to build factories that will employ you. So, why do you frighten them away?

“The government cannot do everything for you. Our brothers, who have money, want to bring it back home. Some of them want to do it, but you are scaring them away. How long are we going to sell fear to our people?

“If your agitation is about the release of Nnamdi Kanu, we love our Igbo land, and we love our brother, and he is my brother. That he is locked up does not make him less of my brother, and that you are agitating does not make you less of my brother.

“But I am saying that there is a better way to get it done. There are many ways to kill a rat. Let us look for other ways that we can kill this rat without destroying our home.

“Let us come together and unite, and I can assure you that once we unite, there is nothing we ask this government for that we cannot get, including the one you are asking for our brother; it is also achievable,” he said.