Igbo elders support Obi and urge Buhari to free Kanu

Leaders of the Southeast Geopolitical Zone under the umbrella of the Igbo Elders Consultative Forum on Friday declared their support for Labor Party presidential candidate Peter Obi for the election of 2023.

They also called on the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (Retired), to release the leader of the Independent People of Biafra, Nnamdi Kanu, in the interests of peace in Nigeria and in the southeast.

While describing Obi as the true "unifier", IECF leaders, also known as Ime-Obi Ohanaeze Ndigbo, said their decision to back the former governor of Anambra State was devoid of tribal feeling.

IECF President and former Governor of Anambra State, Dr. Chukwuemeka Ezeife stated these in an interview with journalists in Abuja.

According to him, Obi's presidency would put an end to the separatist agitations of various groups in the country, in particular that of the IPOB.

Ezeife said, "We previously agreed in the South and Middle Belt Forum to call all applicants from the Southeast, interview them and adopt one person. But that has been overtaken by events. If you look at the candidates from A to Z, you find that there is one from the Southeast who is everyone's candidate.

“He is the true unifier of Nigeria, because he is someone who will banish poverty, banish insecurity, banish all the negative aspects associated with Nigeria. That person is Peter Obi and he is the person we will all support."

According to him, it was the elders of the South East who convinced Obi to quit the Peoples Democratic Party in May.

"If you look at the files, you will find that the elders of Abuja really worked hard to get him out as a candidate. We forced him out of the PDP so that he could be a candidate for the presidency. So the question of even adopting him does not arise as he is our trusted candidate, anointed by God, to remake and recreate Nigeria. He will make everyone happy.

"Obi will ensure that the Fulani belong to Nigeria and have a say. He will ensure that the Yoruba do not want to go there and also force Igbo and all groups to stay in Nigeria and restructure the country to make it work,” he said.

Speaking on Nnamdi Kanu's ordeals, the alumni in a statement by Ezeife and IECF secretary Prof. Charles Nwekeaku expressed disappointment with the federal government's decision to comply with the judgment of the Court of Appeal which freed the head of the IPOB.

The IECF said the government's decision would have far-reaching consequences for peace and security issues in the southeastern area of ​​the country.

The organization said: "The federal government's appeal against the unanimous judgment of the Court of Appeal, which freed Mazi Nnamdi Kalu, is capable of aggravating the security problems and the peace process initiatives in the Southeast, preventing the holding of the 2023 general elections in the area, as well as its ripple effects on peace, unity, stability and the continued existence of businesses in the Nigeria.

"Even more worryingly, the media reports that the three courageous and patriotic members of the Court of Appeal who handed down the commendable and historic judgment of the dismissal of Nnamdi Kalu have all been transferred to the outside the FCT, in Abuja, within four days of the delivery of the judgment, which quashed the other seven of the original 15 federal charges against him.Justice Binta Nyako of a Federal High Court in Abuja l previously dismissed and discharged 8 of the 15 federal terrorism charges against him.

"The Federal Court of Appeals' October 13 unanimous decision on Nnamdi Kalu, which overturned the remaining seven counts against him, was not only historic, courageous and patriotic, but also a bare confirmation that the judiciary remains the last hope of the common man, especially in the current dispensation of Nigeria where the executive arm of government is selective and rogue about which laws to obey and which to disobey.

"We salute the courage and patriotism of this rare breed of judges who delivered an objective, popular and historic judgment on Kanu."

According to them, as "Leader Igbo Elders, who believe in the peace, unity, stability and corporate existence of Nigeria, we call on the Federal Government to withdraw its appeal against the unanimous decision of the three-man panel of the Court of Appeals, and release our son, Kanu, as ordered by the Court."

The elders observed that even if the federal government were to appeal the unanimous decision of the Court of Appeals, the government should first obey the decision of its own court, as was the case with the recent Federal Labor Court. ruling against the industrial action of the Ac...