Orji Uzor Kalu, senator representing Abia North, has urged the Igbo nation to shun emotional reactions and embrace a political approach to resolving the crisis surrounding Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).
Kalu’s comments follow last week’s Federal High Court judgment in Abuja, which sentenced Kanu to life imprisonment on multiple terrorism-related charges.
Appearing on Channels Television’s Sunday Politics, the former Abia governor lamented the scale of devastation the agitation has inflicted on the southeast, insisting that the human and economic toll is far greater than widely acknowledged.
He stressed that political actors must avoid heightening tensions and instead work toward a sustainable political solution.
“I wouldn’t like to talk about this issue. It’s not the time for noise-making or fighting. It’s a time for sober reflection,” he said.
Kalu claimed that more than 30,000 Igbos have been killed in the unrest, with countless businesses destroyed.
“We have to solve this problem holistically. Do you know that over 30,000 Igbos were killed? People who have shops lost their businesses.
“I used to sell my own manufactured products in Aba. I know what the numbers were. But people are just talking about soldiers killed and not the rest of them.
“The problem of Nnamdi Kanu is what we need to solve through political process.
“Just as the theory Bianca Ojukwu and Mascot Uzor Kalu propounded, they (people) should stop the noise and focus on the settlement with the federal government.
“Let me tell you. I have been working with the federal government on how to solve this issue.”
To illustrate the human cost, Kalu recounted the story of his late mother’s friend, a rice dealer whose business was wiped out during the violent upheavals.
“My mother’s friend had a rice shop. The woman who owed my mother about N4.2 million. But they ransacked the old woman’s shops and she went bankrupt. Nobody talks about it,” he lamented.
Calling for calm and diplomacy, he urged Igbo stakeholders to seek a collective resolution.
“Let Igbos stop being emotional. I want us to settle down, go on our knees and find a way that the man can be released. It’s part of my job to do it.”
Kalu also recalled advising the Muhammadu Buhari administration in 2017 to consider granting Kanu bail as part of broader political negotiations tied to his joining the APC.
The senator defended Justice James Omotosho, the trial judge who delivered the conviction, insisting that attacks on him were unwarranted.
“Nobody should question the decision of Justice Omotosho. If you are displeased, you go to the appellate court. It’s not to start insulting the man,” Kalu said.
He criticised Kanu’s courtroom behaviour, contrasting it with his own conduct during his trial.
“If you remember, I was given 12 years (imprisonment), but I never insulted the judge,” he said.
“The other day, I saw the judge at the national assembly when he came to be confirmed as a supreme court justice. I embraced him and gave him all court seats.
“We must condemn certain behaviours. You cannot rant in a court of competent jurisdiction. I take exception to it.
“People might say it is good. Justice Omotosho is just a messenger of the court. It is his job.
“If you are displeased, you go to the appellate court. It’s not to start insulting the man.”
Justice Omotosho had sentenced Kanu to life imprisonment on counts one, two, four, five, and six, while imposing a 20-year sentence on the third count related to membership of a proscribed terrorist organisation.
The seventh charge, involving the illegal importation of a radio communication device, carried an additional five years.
None of the convictions allow for fines in place of the custodial terms.
The court further ruled that Kanu’s threats and enforcement of sit-at-home orders constituted terrorist acts under Nigerian law.
