The 2023 presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi has said that the prolonged detention of Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) does not make sense to him.
Kanu is currently being held at the facility of the Department of State Services (DSS).
The IPOB leader’s detention followed his arrest in Kenya and extradition to Nigeria over allegations of terrorism and treason against the Nigerian state.
Speaking on Channels Television’s Politics Today, Obi said people using vulgar words on their leaders should not bother anyone.
He said, For every one of them, I mean where has it been heard? It doesn’t make sense to me, some people say because he used vulgar words and everything, if there’s anything wrong I’ve not seen it.”
People just say using vulgar words, it doesn’t bother me if I am President. Whether you call me a thief, call me an idiot, which they call me today,” Obi stated.
He added that every leader’s focus should be on ensuring the well-being of the citizens they have been elected to govern.
“It doesn’t bother me, my duty as a leader is for the common man to put food on their table,” Obi noted
Asked if he would use the same approach to tackle the insecurity in the Northeast and Southeast, Obi said dialogue would be his first approach to solving any conflict-related issue.
He added that where leaders of agitation groups or criminals are known, hell seek their audience and proceed to adopt decisive measures to tackling such a crisis.
“Remember what I said, if there are people I can talk to, I will talk to them but remember what I said, once there’s such reason, I’ll deal with it.
“For instance, let’s say tomorrow we have a bandit by name Seun operating in the Northeast, I will look for Seun, quote me anywhere but that is just to establish a link to say, enough is enough. Afterwards, deal with it decisively,” Obi said.