By Charles Igbo
Abia State Governor, Dr. Alex Otti, has appealed to those aggrieved by the life sentence in jail passed on the Leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB to calm down as the jail term is not the end of the road for Kanu’s case.
Recall that Nnamdi Kanu who had been facing prosecution by the Federal Government which preferred a six-count charge against him, all of which bordered on terrorism and other issues was finally sentenced to life imprisonment on November 20 by a Federal High Court presided over by the Honourable Justice James Omotosho.
Four of the charges carry the death sentences, but Omotosho, taking refuge in a Bible passage in the book of St. Mathew, converted the death sentences to life imprisonment.
The sentence has been received with mixed feelings. While some people from, obviously, Kanu’s Southeast Region have condemned it, some other people, quite a number of them from the Southeast, have also hailed the judgment insisting that the IPOB leader’s activities and orders destroyed the Zone, and violently took the lives of hundreds of people.
Yet, not a few think that all things considered, a political situation is the best option – an option which many stakeholders from the Zone had canvassed for a couple of years.
In reaction to Kanu’s sentencing, Otti, in a statement on Friday, disclosed that channels have already been activated to secure the release of the IPOB leader from prison. He said diplomatic moves have already started for it to materialise.
In the statement, Otti acknowledged that the fate which befell Kanu has “broken a lot of our people”, and said he had, at all times, advocated for dialogue as the best route to addressing “the IPOB issue, dating back to 2017 when soldiers invaded Kanu’s Afaraukwu home in Umuahia.”
At the time,the Governor
said he condemned the incident and warned in his ThisDay column, “Operation Python Dance: Killing a Fly with a Sledgehammer,” that such forceful approaches would escalate rather than resolve the crisis.
“The poor management of the IPOB issue at the incubation stage created the problem we have today. “Leadership requires emotional intelligence, restraint, and tolerance rather than force and violence.”
Otti said he had, since December 22, 2023, began engaging top federal authorities to explore a political and diplomatic solution and revealed that certain agreements were reached, but they depended on the timely conclusion of Kanu’s trial.
Otti: “Now that judgment has been delivered, the alternative resolution will kick in.
“With the assurances I have received, a resolution is in sight and Mazi Kanu will receive his freedom.
The Governor, however, warned politicians against exploiting Kanu’s ordeal for political gain, and posited that the focus should be on unity and a collective push for a peaceful solution. He assured that he would continue to pursue the matter using wisdom, high-level dialogue and diplomacy, with the ultimate goal of restoring lasting peace to the Southeast.
The statement reads in full: ”Yesterday, Thursday November, 20, 2025, a Federal High Court sitting in Abuja found our son and a citizen of the state, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu guilty of terrorism-related offences and subsequently sentenced him to life imprisonment.
“Without doubt, this development has broken a lot of our people and created an atmosphere of shock and sorrow in Abia and beyond.
“It would be recalled that in September 2017 when soldiers invaded the family home of Mazi Kanu, leading to destruction of property and loss of lives, I immediately and strongly condemned that avoidable act and appealed that dialogue should henceforth be explored as the best approach to resolving the IPOB issue.
“Eight days after that military onslaught at Afaraukwu Umuahia, specifically on September 25, 2017, I wrote a piece on my Thisday Column captioned ” Operation Python Dance: Killing a Fly With a Sledge Hammer”. I condemned that invasion and the killings that followed once again, and offered extensively well-thought-out views and suggestions I felt could help de-escalate tension and unite the nation if the then federal government was willing to pay attention to those views.
“This is because I recognise that leadership requires emotional intelligence, restraint and tolerance rather than force and violence.
“I still strongly believe that the poor management of the IPOB issue at the incubation stage created the problem we have today, hence we cannot allow it to linger and create a bigger monstrous situation for us.
“While the trial that led to this conviction lasted, I personally engaged the authorities at the highest level, starting from December 22, 2023, on alternative resolution strategy. I must state that some agreements were made which were dependent on quick dispensation of the matter at the federal high court. Unfortunately, the matter dragged until this time.
“I am confident that judgement having been delivered, the alternative resolution will now kick in. It is instructive that this strategy was explained to Mazi Nnamdi Kanu when I visited him while he was in the DSS Custody earlier in the year.
“While Mazi Nnamdi Kanu is free to appeal his conviction, I’m happy to inform you that I have activated and will continue to work on the already agreed strategy until his freedom is secured. I’m also happy to collaborate with other well-meaning Nigerians who genuinely want this problem resolved, to push for his freedom through the same diplomacy and dialogue with the federal government, which though did not create the problem, but can courageously and compassionately solve it and take the credit.
“I’ll like to use this opportunity to appeal to our people to remain calm and refrain from utterances and actions capable of stoking fear, violence and insecurity and may negatively affect the the outcome of the engagements we are already having. I have no doubt that with the assurances I have received from the Federal Government, a resolution is in sight and Mazi Kanu will receive his freedom.
“May I also caution politicians who have positioned themselves to play petty and dirty politics with the travails of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu to jettison the idea, and rather work with us to secure his freedom.
“Finally, I want to assure our people of my unwavering resolve and commitment to genuinely solving this problem with wisdom, high level dialogue and diplomacy, with a view to ensuring that genuine peace returns to the South East.“
The IPOB Leader was, on Friday, November 21, moved from the Headquarters of the DSS, Abuja, where he has been in custody since 2021, to a Custodial Centre in Kaduna State to start serving his sentence.
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