Segun Showunmi, the promoter of The Alternative Movement, has urgently appealed to President Bola Tinubu to pursue a political resolution in the case of Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), who was recently sentenced to life imprisonment.
Naijaonpoint recalls that Kanu was convicted by a Federal High Court in Abuja on seven terrorism-related charges.
Justice James Omotosho ruled that the prosecution successfully proved that Kanu’s broadcasts supporting Biafra incited violence and contributed to killings across parts of the country.
Following the ruling, the Department of State Services transferred him to the Nigerian Correctional Centre in Sokoto.
Call for National Unity
Speaking in Abeokuta on Monday during the “Guest Forum” organised by the Correspondents Chapel of the Nigeria Union of Journalists, Ogun State Council, Showunmi argued that resolving the matter politically would better serve the cause of national unity.
He asserted that the country has moved past the civil war and should avoid actions that deepen mistrust, stressing that releasing Kanu would help de-escalate insecurity in the South East rather than fuel agitation.
Showunmi added that keeping Kanu in detention only strengthens the resolve of violent groups operating in the region.
He emphasized that a political settlement would reassure the Igbo community that they are not targets of injustice.
He said, “The civil war is long over and it needs to be over. There can be no justification for the killings of Igbos in Igboland under whatever guise.
“Why don’t you let us find a way to collaborate among ourselves and shatter the glass ceiling which is the presidency.
“I call on the Federal Government and President Bola Tinubu that, for the benefit of this nation and the people we have lost to keeping this country together, we plead that we are now due for a political solution to Kanu’s case.
“We want the Igbos to understand that there is no conspiracy to do them injustice. We must be willing to look for a political solution because a greater good of the country is served if he is released than keeping him behind bars.
“By leaving him behind bars, we are energising that audience that is just misbehaving and killing people in the South-East.”
Addressing concerns about the judgment itself, Showunmi stated that the legal process must run its course but dismissed any claims of ethnic or political bias in the conviction.
“It is only the Court of Appeal that can determine if there is a miscarriage of justice or not in the case, but let nobody imagine that there is any tribalism or otherwise in that judgement,” he said.
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