Onitsha – The Bishop of the Diocese on the Niger, Rt. Rev. Owen Nwokolo, yesterday, expressed shock over non-release of the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPoB, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, saying his continued detention is unsettling the South-East region and Nigeria.
According to the bishop, Mazi Kanu’s case can better be resolved politically, rather than through the courts because the courts would end up causing more problems, saying if the court sends him to jail, it amounts to sending many Igbos to jail and the country may never know peace.
Speaking on the recent Supreme Court ruling on Kanu, he argued that the Supreme Court would have calmed the nerves of the people of the region this festive period, but since the apex court said otherwise, there was nothing one could do.Nwokolo, nevertheless, insisted that the case was not an ordinary one but a politically motivated case that must be resolved politically.The cleric, however, blamed the people of South-East for not speaking with one voice towards the call for the release of the IPoB leader, advising that the people of the region should learn to work together.
He said: “We thought that the Supreme Court would use the release of Nnamdi Kanu to calm the nerves of the people of the region but the reverse was the case and one cannot do anything because the highest court in the and has spoken.“However, the people in the South-East should learn to work together because united we stand, divided we fall. We can work together to make our zone peaceful, progressive and we must show empathy to things that are happening to others. We can also in that unity speak to the government of the day because the way it sees, Nnamdi Kanu’s case is political not an ordinary case.“Political cases like this are handled politically. Courts cannot adjudicate on it without causing more problems. This is because if you imprison Kanu, if you send him to jail you are sending many Igbos to jail and the country may never know peace. If you release him you have released many Igbo people.
