Governor Umahi says he and Buhari are engaged in a dialogue over the release of Nnamdi Kanu

GOVERNOR David Umahi of Ebonyi State has revealed he is involved in discussions with President Muhammadu Buhari in his capacity as the chairman of the South East Governors Forum regarding the release of Indigenous People of Biafra (Ipob) leader Nnamdi Kanu.

Highly controversial, Mr Kanu has been campaigning for the recreation of the independent republic of Biafra which broke away from Nigeria between July 1967 and January 1970 during the civil war. His campaign, which has led to the phenomenal growth of Ipob, has set him at odds with the Nigerian government who him arrested and put on trial for treason.

While the case was still pending, Mr Kanu was granted bail in April 2017 on health grounds but skipped his bail after flouting the conditions given to him by the court and fled Nigeria. In a dramatic development, in June last year, Mr Kanu was abducted in Kenya and flown to Nigeria, where he has since been arrayed in court in Abuja, with fresh charges added to the pending ones.

Mr Kanu's trial has polarised Nigeria, with the southeast geo-political zone seeing it as a classic case of ethnic victimisation. With the matter now set to dominate political discussions in the run-up to the 2023 presidential elections, Governor Umahi assured Igbos that Mr Kanu will soon be released from detention.

Governor Umahi said: "I have gone to President Muhammadu Buhari and initiated a political dialogue over our brother Nnamdi Kanu and that process is on. I don’t see any reason why we should be killing ourselves and fighting our people, making sure that the economy of the southeast is down.

“Some of these people that initiated this sit-at-home are outside the country. They can never do sit-at-home one day there because they work 24 hours and if they do, hunger will kill them.”

He noted that the Igbos are the enemies to themselves pointing out that until the activities of the gunmen are halted, the region would continue to suffer economic deprivation and stagnation. Governor Umahi also called on Ndigbo to always come back home to invest adding that such investment would develop the region.