THE Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives stated yesterday that the release of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu from incarceration is possible.
The Deputy Speaker’s Chief Press Secretary, Levinus Nwabughiogu, confirmed the Deputy Speaker’s position in a statement.
On the ‘South East Political Roundtable,’ a current affairs radio broadcast on FLO FM in Umuahia yesterday, Hon. Kalu indicated that talks to liberate Kanu were underway.
He did, however, exhort the youth of the southeast to ensure that the sit-at-home policy is discontinued, underlining that it is frightening away many investors who wish to contribute to the region’s growth.
Hon. Kalu, who also spoke on the achievements of the recently launched Peace In South East Project (PISE-P) in Bende Local Government Area of Abia, urged those carrying arms to lay down their weapons and join the initiative’s non kinetic approach to ending security challenges and other people’s agitations.
The Deputy Speaker requested support to enable President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration deliver optimally, stating that the President is invested in the development of the southeast.
He said: “We can’t put all our programs and plans on social media. He’s my brother. Is he in the mix of what we are trying to do? Yes! It’s one of our agendas to ensure he’s released. Who wants their brother to be in jail?
“We are working underground. There’s a detailed strategy. It’s not by violence, you can’t coerce the government through violence. It has never worked and won’t work. Let’s be wiser. The wisdom is in peace. Let’s quench the violence.
“If it’s chaotic, it won’t work. Let’s cool down. Let the man see that you’ve recognised he didn’t contribute to locking him up and that he has not done anything to the southeast. We should support him and his government and not attack him.
“I’m standing firmly against the voice of violence, preaching peace. That is what I’m here for, this voice of peace will echo through the Villa and he will come out. Mr President was happy with what happened in Bende. That the whole country can gather together and support this project.
“Our strength does not lie in how many guns we carry, on how many people we threaten not to come out on Monday, that is not the display of the strength of an Igbo man.
“Igbo men are not lazy people who like sitting at home from Saturday to Sunday to Monday and go to work only Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, that is not us; we are hard-working, we are rebuilders, we are never down and when we are down, we find a way to stand on our feet and raise our shoulders and rebuild again, that is my call to our people.
“We can bring you into the rebuilding that we are doing. We can bring you into the reconciliation. We can bring you in for rehabilitation and the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria is interested in the Igbos.
“Look at what he has done by giving us the Chief of Naval Staff which we never got in the last eight years. Did I just mention the Naval Chief, what about the minister of Works, Senator Dave Umahi, my good friend?
“Mr President gave the minister of works to an Igbo son that proves himself in Ebonyi and he said, come and build what you did in Ebonyi in the entire Nigeria starting from the five states of the South East and the only way we pay the president back is to say there will be no work on Monday?
“Look at what happened for the very first time, 15 billionaires of Igbo extraction gathered in Bende. That is to tell you that they are ready to bring their industry here, they are ready to build factories that will employ you, so why do you scare them away?
“Government cannot do everything for you. Our brothers who have money want to bring it back home. Some of them want to do it but you are scaring them away. How long are we going to sell fear to our people?
“This is a new year. This is a new era. This is a new dawn and I urge you to come and join hands with us. We will make you the leader of this project. Don’t lead those carrying guns, come and lead those who will call the peace marshals, let’s give you responsibility, let’s give you a task.
“And I call on all of you who are in support of the sit-at-home on Monday, it is time to stop. It is time to stop the sit at home on Mondays.
“If your agitation is about the release of Nnamdi Kanu; we love our Igbo land and we love our brother and he is my brother. That he is locked up does not make him less of my brother and that you are agitating does not make you less of my brother.
“But I am saying that there is a better way to get it done. There are many ways to kill a rat. Let us look for other ways that we can kill this rat without destroying our home.
“Let us come together and unite and I can assure you that once we unite, there is nothing we ask this government that we cannot get including the one you are asking for our brother, it is also achievable.”
Hon. Kalu also thanked the governors of the five Eastern states for their support of PISE-P.
The Deputy Speaker stated that the project was not political in nature, emphasizing that it was all about community service.
