Dialogue has been identified as the best option for President Muhammadu Buhari and the Federal Government in resolving the case of detained leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu.
This was declared on Saturday by the Igbo Lawyers Association (ILA).
The group who noted that negotiation was the best solution to political problems, said that those against the call for amnesty for Kanu were doing so out of ethnic sentiments.
Chairman of ILA, Chuks Muoma, therefore, said the recent meeting between some Igbo leaders and the president on the release of the IPOB leader was a welcome development.
Muoma, who was a former lead counsel to Kanu, said that the visit by the group led by First Republic Aviation Minister, Chief Mbazulike Amaechi, was a good gesture of peace that should be supported by all.
The Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) commended the president’s response to consider the request, stressing that the matter was weighty in nature, and needed sublime consideration.
“Amaechi’s gesture was good. I will never condemn a gesture of peace. Dialogue is the best solution to political problems. One of the good qualities of a democratic dispensation is discussing issues confronting the people instead of fighting it out, so I support the visit.
“The president said he would think about it. It’s a good response. The decision is weighty and needed sublime consideration,” he emphasised.
On the argument by some persons that Kanu be allowed to face trial and punishment, if found guilty, Muoma, said that such calls were borne out of ego-centric sentiments.
“Those making such utterances,” he stated, “were neither patriots nor nationalists of the Nigerian nation. They are speaking out of ethnic sentimentalism, out of their inordinate ambition to see themselves ruling Nigeria perpetually, to the detriment of other majority ethnic groups.”
He reminded them that Kanu’s agitation for self-determination was legal under international law and Nigeria’s domestic laws.
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His words, “The United Nations Declaration on Human Rights and African Charter on Human and People›s Rights, freedom of self-determination in international law have been domesticated in the laws of the Federation of Nigeria.
“So, it is not a criminal offence to agitate for self-determination both under international law and the laws of the Federation of Nigeria.”
He, however, condemned violence while seeking for one’s right, saying such postures never brought permanent solutions to problems.
“I do not condone violence in any quarter, because I can’t see it being a permanent solution in any matter.
“The Nigerian civil war didn’t put an end to Biafra agitation, or any other nationalities’ agitation for self-determination,” Muoma said.
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