Biafra: Kanu was willing to amicably resolve issues – Nwabueze

An elder statesman, Prof. Ben Nwabueze, has said that the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, Nnamdi Kanu, expressed wiilingness to amicably resolve of issues relating to the agitation for Biafra during the meeting he held with South-East governors in Enugu on August 30.

Nwabueze, made the assertion  in a statement he made available to the press in Enugu on Monday.

Reacting to the recent request for the ban of IPOB amon other allegations, Nwabueze recounted the details of the August 30 meeting between Kanu and the governors.

Nwabueze said, “On 30th August, 2017, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, Evangelist Elliot Ugochukwu-Uko and I met with the South-East Governors Forum.

“The meeting was chaired by the current Chairman of the Forum and Governor of Ebonyi State, Dave Umahi, who, in his conduct of the meeting, exhibited his characteristic sagacity, candour and forthrightness, tempered with friendliness.

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“Perhaps charmed by the things said by the chairman and the way he conducted the meeting, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, on his part, showed an accommodating disposition for an amicable resolution of the crisis and more specifically a disposition to reconsider the threat to stop or disrupt the 2019 elections and the Anambra State governorship election on November 18, 2017, but emphasized that the decision did not lie with him alone and that the leadership of the Indigenous People of Biafra  must be carried along.

Nwabueze added further that the leadership of IPOB showed interest in attending the planned meeting, though harsh attacks were claimed to have been launched on Kanu’s home.

“Accordingly, it agreed to meet with the leadership of IPOB in order to try to secure their agreement and support. Regrettably, while the follow-up meeting was being arranged, the attack on Mazi Nnamdi Kanu’s home in Umuahia by soldiers of the Nigerian Army on September 10, 2017, occurred as reported in the news media, which, expectedly, triggered clashes between the IPOB supporters and the Army in Aba, Umuahia and other places, resulting in the death of, or injury to, several people.”

“Despite all this, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu made it known that, in the spirit of a search for amicable resolution of the crisis, he would still attend the planned meeting, now fixed for Friday, September 15, 2017.

Unfortunately, another attack against the IPOB leader prompted his decision to boycott the planned meeting with the South-East governors.

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“However, a day or so before that date, another attack on his Umuahia residence by soldiers, armed with guns and armoured vehicles, was reported in the media, which caused Nnamdi Kanu to renounce his intention to attend the planned meeting.

“It seems unreasonable and unfeeling to expect him to attend the meeting when the casualties included two of his cousins.”

The elder statesman added further that he had reached Enugu from Lagos for the meeting on Thursday 15 September, without the presence IPOB leadership, especially Nnamdi Kanu. He therefore felt the purpose of the meeting had been defeated an consequently had to go back to Lagos.

Nwabueze therefore enjoined the governors to re-schedule  the meeting with Kanu at a later date.

He said, “The meeting should be reconvened when the tension caused by these developments had quietened down”.