George Ozalla
Senator Victor Umeh has condemned the life-imprisonment sentence handed down to Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, describing it as a predictable outcome of years of government escalation, mismanagement, and refusal to embrace dialogue at critical moments. Umeh said any close observer of the legal and political trajectory of the matter would understand that the situation snowballed because the state consistently chose force over engagement.
He recalled that the agitation in the South East began in 2016 as a peaceful movement championing the concerns of many Igbo people who felt excluded from national structures. According to him, respected regional leaders openly supported the call for constructive national dialogue, and the protests at the time were orderly and non-violent.
Umeh traced the major turning point to the Nkpor incident, where security forces opened fire on IPOB supporters who had assembled without weapons. He said he condemned the killings on radio that day, insisting that no democratic society responds to youthful agitation with lethal force. His criticism led to his arrest by the Department of State Services on 3 March 2016, where he was questioned over alleged incitement and even funding IPOB because he publicly opposed the killings. He told investigators that silencing marginalized voices with bullets would never work, arguing instead that the matter required political understanding and dialogue.
He said the government deepened the crisis by resorting to a court-backed proscription of IPOB, a move he strongly opposed while in the Senate. Umeh maintained that court declarations cannot solve political grievances or replace meaningful engagement with citizens who feel unheard.
According to him, Nnamdi Kanu became a symbol of deeper frustrations shared by millions, and addressing him alone while ignoring the root causes amounts to misreading the South East’s genuine concerns. He drew comparisons with other national conflicts, noting that the Niger Delta crisis was approached through dialogue and amnesty under President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, while deradicalization and reintegration programmes were offered to Boko Haram defectors. In the South East, he said, a purely militarized strategy was deployed despite the agitation being political and emotional at its core.
To push for reconciliation, Umeh said all ten Senators from the South East, led by Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe, jointly wrote to the Attorney-General requesting Kanu’s release. When the letter produced no action, the senators visited the AG again. He added that he personally appealed to President Bola Tinubu during his recent visit to Anambra, urging that Kanu’s release would significantly calm tensions.
Umeh insisted that the life-imprisonment verdict does not offer any solution and runs contrary to the sentiments of the vast majority of Igbo people. He said only justice-driven dialogue, fairness, and thoughtful leadership can restore lasting peace in the region.
Nnamdi Kanu, who was first arrested in Lagos in October 2015 and later re-arrested abroad before being returned to Nigeria in June 2021, was convicted after a prolonged legal battle. The court pronounced a life-imprisonment sentence on him after finding him guilty on the charges preferred by the Federal Government.
