Nnamdi Kanu's arrest, detention uncalledfor, being made hero by FG - Okorocha

The Governor of Imo State, Rochas Owelle Okorocha has said there is nothing wrong with those agitating for Biafra adding that the method for the agitation is only wrong.

He said the Biafra agitators are not different from other agitators of Oduduwa Republic, Niger Delta Republic , Egbesu etc.

According to him, '' when you are talking about sovereignty, that doesn’t sound well with any sovereign nation. But they are doing the same thing that the Egbesus are doing, the Oduduwas are doing, the Niger Delta people are doing, but the language is different. I mean there is nothing wrong if you make all the noise in the world for people to recognize you, it is part of democracy.''

He stated this in a chat with Sunday Sun where he covered a wide range of issues published on March 26, 2017 titled ''FG making Nnamdi Kanu hero – Gov Rochas Okorocha''

Below is an excerpt of the interview:

We know the efforts you made to put Ohanaeze Ndigbo back to its feet again, but recently we have seen some of the leaders in the South-east particularly those in the APC criticizing the leadership of Ohanaeze over its stand on MASSOB and IPOB, how do you look at that?


Well, let me say to you, if you are talking about MASSOB or IPOB; first, let me talk about Ohanaeze. Yes, I felt it was a shame for the great Igbo nation not to be seen to be organized. I was concerned about that and I played a key role in bringing all factions to agree. And I dramatized it by showing them I care by building a secretariat for Ndigbo and by ensuring that when the tenure is finished, the president will give way for a new person to come in. All these I did; I supported them. But criticizing these people, Ohanaeze, Ohanaeze; Ohanaeze is working without a dime because we are not supporting them, how will they perform rather than crisis? So, that issue has been settled and I am happy we have a well organized Ohanaeze now.

On the issue of Kanu and IPOB, I have a different opinion altogether and I think it has been over-dramatized and over pursued, we will just find out that it has not given us any key result. See, approach is key in life and how you look at things. I think what we must do as Igbo is to let the Federal Government see the reasons to release Kanu because keeping Kanu there is making him a hero out of nothing. He should be released. Since he made inciting statements, he has not killed, he is not found guilty, he should be released. And even what he did is not just an order or threat to government; all that he is charged with, is he guilty of it? Has he done anything wrong? So, we must let the government understand that Kanu is not worth the trouble being attached to him. It is something that we the leaders can go to the president and say, give us this boy, we will guarantee his good behaviour. Bring him out. But the approach is key. I think very soon now I will ensure that a meeting of Igbo leaders is convened.

This is where leadership is called for. We will go and meet President Buhari and we will kindly request for his release and that he has learnt enough lesson in the prison. Because he didn’t even spare anybody; we have to let him know he wasn’t only talking about the Federal Government and Biafra. He was castigating and insulting all the Igbo leaders. When such a person who even castigated his own is in prison, why should it be a big deal? Why don’t we look at it differently and see it as youthful exuberance rather than putting him there and he is creating a bit of tension and what should not worth it.

And Nigerians love creating ethnic colourations and making things big. I have discussed with some key Federal Government authorities that they need to remove him from the prison and stop this case so that everybody will be free and IPOB will be free. But I must also have said that IPOB in their agitation, there is nothing wrong with the agitation, but the language of the agitation is different. You see, when you are talking about sovereignty, that doesn’t sound well with any sovereign nation. But they are doing the same thing that the Egbesus are doing, the Oduduwas are doing, the Niger Delta people are doing, but the language is different. I mean there is nothing wrong if you make all the noise in the world for people to recognize you, it is part of democracy.

But when you say you want to be sovereign, you want to be on your own, that’s when it becomes an issue. It creates unnecessary hatred for Ndigbo. Yet you want to be free and the Igbo are talking about Igbo presidency, how does the two work? So, these are some of the things we have to advise our children to apply wisdom in doing. But nobody wants to talk about it, everybody thinks it has become a political issue, let’s use it as an instrument to get some kind of attention.

That’s not the way to do it. And the Igbo are quite unique people. What others do and get away with, people don’t excuse us with it. So, we must look inward and find a refined way of getting what we want. For instance, when people are talking about presidency, instead of them to talk about Nigerian president, they are talking about Igbo president. As if you have ever had Yoruba president or Hausa president. So, we must change our language. Our problem with IPOB and the whole agitation about Igbo presidency is the language.