The Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Chief Benjamin Kalu, says the South-East must achieve peace and security before demanding the release of the Leader of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Mazi Nnamdi Kanu.
The deputy speaker said this during an interactive session with newsmen in his Bende country home on Sunday.
He spoke on how best the region could approach its demand for Kanu’s release from detention.
According to him, the region could only realise its objective through peaceful negotiations and not by arm.twisting the Federal Government.
He said that although the leadership of the South-East had made several efforts for Kanu’s release, the effort of some amounted to playing to the gallery.
Kalu countered the widely held belief in the South-East that once Kanu is released peace would automatically return to the region.
“To get Kanu released is not about how much you talk about it in the pages of the newspapers or television, it needs strategic thinking and strategic steps to get it done.
“Many thought that by arm twisting the Federal Government through sit-at-home every Monday, through violence and destruction that the Federal Government can immediately release Kanu.
“You can never armtwist the Federal Government, but you can dialogue,” Kalu said.
He said that the threat to burn down the region, if the Federal Government refused to listen to its request, was equal to shooting oneself in the foot.
“The houses you are shooting are in the South-East.
“When you say, if you don’t release Kanu, the people will sit at home and not go to work, people are going to work in Lagos, Kano, Sokoto and other parts of the country.
“So, who are you shooting? It’s like a man shooting his own leg and taking accolade for it, and this is the greatest level of folly,” he said.
The deputy speaker also said it would amount to daring the Federal Government to say “its fire-for-fire and violence for violence.
“So, critically thinking, the best approach is to reduce the violence in the region and create a platform for negotiation,” he said.
Kalu further contended that the president had not committed any sin against the South-East.
He said that the president, on the contrary, had shown love to the region “by giving us the No. Six citizen (deputy speakership), Chief of Naval Staff and Minister for Works”.
He, therefore, said that what the South-East should do in the present circumstance was to join his advocacy for peace, through the Peace in the South-East Project, unveiled on December 29.