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The Deputy Speaker of the Abia State House of Assembly, Rt Honourable Austin Okezie Mmeregini, has urged President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to release the detained leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, through a political solution that would restore peace in the South East region.
Speaking under a matter of urgent public importance on the floor of the House, Mmeregini said Nigeria had reached the point where legal proceedings alone could no longer resolve the lingering case that had deepened regional tension since Kanu’s arrest in 2021.
He argued that the continued detention of the IPOB leader had fuelled instability in the South East and that adopting a political approach, similar to the amnesty granted Niger Delta agitators in the past, would promote reconciliation and national unity.
“The trial of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu is no longer tenable, more so as it has continuously fueled unrest in the South East,” he said. “The Federal Government has negotiated with non-state actors in the North to end violence. The same option should be extended to Kanu to bring peace to our region.”
The Deputy Speaker cited global examples of political settlements that ended prolonged conflicts, including peace accords in Colombia, South Africa, Liberia, and the United Nations’ use of political solutions in South Sudan, Mali, and the Central African Republic.
He recalled that Nigeria had once adopted such an approach through the 2000 Oputa Panel under former President Olusegun Obasanjo, which helped to promote truth, reconciliation, and healing after years of national trauma.
According to Mmeregini, Section 174 of the Nigerian Constitution empowers the Attorney-General of the Federation to discontinue any criminal proceedings in the public interest. He therefore called on the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), to invoke nolle prosequi in Kanu’s case.
“The Federal Government should summon the political will to end the detention of our brother, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu. This is the first step toward full reconciliation in Igboland and the South East region,” he stated.
Mmeregini further appealed to the South East caucus in the National Assembly to mount pressure on the President to demonstrate statesmanship by resolving the issue politically, saying the forthcoming November 20 judgment offered a defining opportunity for peace.
He urged the House to pass a resolution advising the President to release Kanu unconditionally and to institute an inquiry into the causes of his agitation, noting that only dialogue could calm growing discontent.
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