It has become customary for the justification of the continued illegal detention of Nnamdi Kanu to make references to many killings in the South-East .Eternal rest to those killed in Igboland, and may the bereaved be consoled. But it is wrong and a cheap propaganda stuff to attribute those killings to IPOB, and by extension, to Nnamdi Kanu, and with that justify his criminal kidnapping from Kenya, and continued illegal detention after two courts: a Federal High Court and a court of appeal had set him free on the ground that his illegal rendition has made his trial untenable because the way and manner, by which he was brought into the country by the Federal Government is offensive to all known Laws and international treaties on extradition.
The reality in the South-East is that there are many armed gangs under the control of rival political leaders, roaming about the terrain and causing havoc.It is record that a well-known Niger Delta militant once openly boasted to have been hired by the government of the South- East to help fight IPOB Biafra agitators.In such a crowded environment, with many armed- bearing men, many of whom were imported mercenaries, it is difficult to know who was responsible for what killings at some locations. Point is a war zone, there is the possibility of unintended casualties. Yet, it is not impossible that many deaths may be by ‘unknown soldiers’ laying siege on South-East, in the name of hunting down IPOB members.I hope we remember that under the guise of trying to arrest or kill Kanu in his residence in Igboland, after he was granted bail, 28 people, including some of his family members, were killed by a detachment of the Nigerian Army.Definitely, not all found in his residence were IPOB members, and there was no evidence that those gun down by soldiers were arm- bearing who exchanged gun fire with soldiers. I guess, if IPOB agitation has been extended to Edo State, many cult engagements that have resulted in many killings in Benin and other parts of the state would have been blamed on IPOB and Nnamdi Kanu.
Let us be guided by our conscience and sense of justice. Meanwhile, why does a government that always dialogue and release terrorists and bandits and rehabilitate them find it difficult to dialogue with Kanu and IPOB members for a possible political solution . After all, it is no crime for people who feel marginalised in a country to seek self- determination
