As concerns grow over the ongoing move by the federal authorities to re-arrest leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, groups across the geopolitical zones have described it as a“costly mistake” and warned of dire consequences.
In a statement issued at the weekend by the Eastern Consultative Assembly (ECA) and Igbo Leaders of Thought said the federal government which has been floundering with one political mistake after the other should restrain itself from plunging the nation into more crises by angling to re-arrest the IPOB leader.
The ECA which is a coalition of several civil society groups noted in the statement signed by its secretary, Elliot Ugochukwu-Uko, who also doubles as Deputy Secretary of Igbo Leaders of Thought, said the government at the centre has continued to portray itself as “a parochial and ethnic-driven government” in its actions and policies hence the bias in handling case of IPOB and its leader.
“Any attempt to re-arrest Kanu, especially without arresting the quit notice givers, genocidal song writers and herdsmen-murderers will spell doom for Nigeria. May the world never say nobody told them. Those plotting the re-arrest of Kanu do not know how deeply divided Nigeria is at the moment. It will be a miracle if Nigeria survives this re-arrest agenda.”
“The agenda to re-arrest Kanu, agreed by the political class, sponsored by those fiercely opposed to the restructuring of Nigeria and endorsed by those who hate our people with passion, will permanently alter the Nigeria political firmament. This is probably ordained by God,” the statement said.
The group recalled that “for close to two years, the world has been regaled by series of childish mistakes by the Nigeria government, as regards to the manner the federal government has handled agitation for self-determination.”
It therefore noted: “The decision to re-arrest the most popular easterner alive today in the belief that nothing will happen, is a very costly mistake (and) there will be consequences, from which Nigeria might never recover.
“Arresting him in October 2015 was a big mistake. Denying him bail was another mistake. Executing his followers in cold blood in Aba, Onitsha, Asaba and Nkpor, a much bigger mistake. And now, re-arresting a man who commands the fanatical following of millions of angry young men will definitely spur grave surprises for us all, head or tail. Nigeria will never be the same after Kanu’s re-arrest.”
Meanwhile, groups in the Niger Delta and Middle Belt have equally voiced their opposition to the move by the federal government to re-arrest the Biafran leader, saying the entire nation would bear the consequences of such action.
Speaking from the Niger Delta, the leader of the Afra Descendants Movement (a pan- Ijaw ethnic organisation), Jene Kalada, said any attempt to re- arrest Kanu would only exacerbate the already bad political situation in Nigeria.
Kalada who voiced the concerns of Niger groups on phone, said the federal government should know that the Niger Delta people “fully support the Biafra agitation adding that the ongoing move to re- arrest Kanu was ‘a step in the wrong direction because it negates the spirit of unity the government claims it wants to achieve.’”
He argued that re-arresting Kanu would bring no solution to the rising ethnic tensions in the
