The chairman of the South-East Governors’ Forum, Engineer Dave Umahi has made a case for a political solution to Kanu’s incarceration. Speaking with Journalists in Abuja after declaring for the 2023 Presidency, Umahi said: “Let me also add that as the chairman of Southeast Governors Forum, that I support a political solution to our insecurity problems in the southeast. And of course, I mentioned it to Mr President.
“You see, the political solution does not terminate the judicial process. And if you know Mr President very well, he has always said and has always demonstrated that he wouldn’t interfere with any judicial process. Everybody knows him for that. But you remember very well that if an agreement is reached between parties, you don’t expect Mr President to be the negotiator. There are a lot of federal government officials.
“So, I believe strongly that if the southeast is proposing a political solution, they should be able to engage the federal government. After all, there’s always what is called out-of-court settlement but it is for our people and our brother Kanu to be willing for us to truly engage so that we can find true peace in our region because the activities there have destroyed a lot of the economy of the people. A lot of lives have been lost and we were shooting it that it wasn’t going to benefit (anyone) because agitation shouldn’t have gone the way it did.
Umahi said further: “Today, the matter has gone beyond them. You know, every criminal, kidnapper, and armed robber tends to claim IPOB and IPOB, in turn, is fighting them. But I think it is late. So, we desire peace, we desire to save the lives of our people. And so, we are willing to engage, to see that we have an amicable settlement. And you know, rebuild the economy of the South East.”
Reminded that this should be the starting point of his engagement, he said: “You see, the leaders of the southeast, of course, not all of them, they must be selected leaders, Ohanaeze and Chief Mbazuluike Amechi are already in the forefront and we can find true peace in our region.
“They have always been briefing me and so, I’ve joined them. That could be the starting point, and we will be able to know what we want. We want peace. And so, there are things we must give up in order to acquire that peace.
“If we are not being fairly treated, and some people feel we are not being fairly treated, we should be able to, constructively show to the federal government, the areas we think that we are not being fairly treated, not through hate speeches, not through violence. I don’t believe in these things because even in homes, in families, the wife or husband or children, we still have one thing or the other against the family but they should be able to discuss.”
Asked if he shared his thoughts with the President on the IPOB leader and what his response was, he said: “If you listen to me very well, Mr President has never been in disagreement for peace or anything that will bring peace.
“But you must allow him, you know, for what he believes in and for his pedigree and integrity, not to interfere with the judiciary, but it is up to us because the by-product of our discussion and negotiation is such that we can now go to court and seek for out of court settlement and whatever is the agreement becomes the settlement of the court.
“So, I strongly believe that a political solution would be far better than the process which may last for a very long time.”
Speaking on why he was at the State House, he said: “Recall that in September, I came to see Mr President to invite him to Ebonyi State to commission some of our completed projects, and lay foundations stones for some of our ongoing projects, especially the Ebonyi State International Airport.
“But while we were in Paris together, I asked him to defer the visit to the first quarter of 2022, which he graciously approved for me. So today, I came to re-invite him to come and commission our numerous projects in Ebonyi State on March 15, 2022. So we are working on that.
“I also briefed the President on the ongoing international airport of Ebonyi State of which I requested his assistance. It’s taking due process. And I believe that Mr President, if he finds merit in it, will definitely assist us to purchase airport equipment to enable us to commission the airport by the end of May 2022.”