Former National Publicity Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Olisa Metuh, has urged President Bola Tinubu to apply a political solution in dealing with the issue of detained leader of the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, saying that his release will put the present restiveness in the southeast to permanent rest.
In a statement he issued on Tuesday, the former spokesman of the main opposition party said the president should tap into his credentials as a known democratic to release him as a major step to restore lasting peace in the southeast region and the country at large.
Metuh commended President Tinubu for his positive posture and commitment towards the peace, development, and stability of the southeast and urged him to end the restiveness in the region by implementing a political solution through the release of Kanu from incarceration.
The former opposition spokesman, who announced his resignation from partisan politics two years ago, has been a strong voice in the call for the release of the IPOB leader having previously made several presentations to the immediate past President Muhammadu Buhari.
Describing Tinubu as “a long-standing democrat and listening leader who deeply understands the sensibilities and nuances of all social segments of the country,” Metuh urged him to deploy his Pan Nigeria skills to engage and end the restiveness in the southeast.
He added: “It is against this backdrop that I make this passionate plea to His Excellency, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, to adopt a political solution that will lead to the release of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu as a major step to restoring lasting peace in the South East Region of the country.
“President Tinubu has shown positive posture and commitment towards the peace, stability and development of the South East. I humbly urge him to further deploy his Pan Nigeria skills to engage and end the restiveness in the South East through a political solution that involves dialogue, understanding and the release of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu.
“The continued detention of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, waiting for a legal solution and use of military option or force as instituted by the last administration under President Buhari have not helped.
“Rather such options are worsening the situation as it opens the space for vicious interests who have hijacked the genuine and peaceful aspiration of the people to unleash violence, killing and harassment of innocent citizens, wanton destruction of property and dislocation of social and economic life in the region.
“Given the strategic position of the South East to national economy the unabated situation in the region has continued to exert grave negative social and economic consequences on the entire nation. President Tinubu can redefine the situation by adopting a political solution in the release of Nnamdi Kanu.”
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Metuh restated that the “Igbos are peace-loving, law-abiding, entrepreneurial and hardworking people but whose belief in justice, equity and fairness is largely misunderstood.”
However, he urged the youth of the region to shun all destructive tendencies and acts that tend to shut down local enterprises in the area and open the space for vicious anti-people interests to afflict the people.
Metuh charged the people of the southeast to use Easter to pray for the release of “our brother and son, Nnamdi Kanu so that the region will experience a new beginning in the spirit of Easter.”
