From Sylvia Kodilichukwu, Enugu
The Senator representing Anambra Central senatorial district in the National Assembly, Senator Victor Umeh, has taken a clear position on the controversy surrounding the agitation of the incarcerated leader of Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, against Igbo marginalization in Nigeria.
Sen. Umeh said he backs the agitation because the marginalization is still overtly manifest and alive in Federal Government’s governance discrimination against the Igbo.
Both Umeh and Kanu are Igbos,one of three major ethnic nationalities in Nigeria.
He spoke to newsmen in Enugu during the general assembly/convention of apex Igbo socio-cultural organization, Ohanaeze Ndigbo,which held at the Old Government House Lodge, GRA, Enugu.
The outspoken senator did not mince words in crafting a working template for the new executives of Ohanaeze, charging them to immediately move to the top burner the urgent matter of getting the Federal Government to release the IPOB leader as well as construct a standard gauge rail line running through the South-East.
Factional Ohanaeze Ndigbo President-General (PG), Barrister Uche Okwukwu, an activist lawyer who was elected on Friday at the organization’s congress in Port Harcourt,Rivers State, had,in his post-election acceptance speech, declared that he would prioritize engaging with President Bola Tinubu to get Kanu freed. Another Ohanaeze PG, Senator John Azuta-Mbata, was also elected in another Congress in Enugu at the event attended by the South-East Governors and other power brokers.
According to Umeh, if the executives failed to ensure Kanu’s release, Igbos will hand them a scorecard of failure and will not be happy with them, irrespective of any other accomplishments they may attain.
To him, this shows how important the Kanu Question is to Igbos.
Umeh lamented that criminals doing business with killings and kidnappings were using Kanu’s detention as an excuse to perpetrate crimes, emphasizing: “We need to separate the wheat from the chaff. If government releases Nnamdi Kalu now, it will be unfortunate for anybody to go and kidnap or kill somebody and say ‘release Nnamdi Kanu’.
“We will channel our problems towards those criminals that are doing the business of killings and kidnapping and that will help our efforts to solve the problems of security in the South-East.
“Nnamdi Kanu, by all means, was fighting for the freedom of his people. He was fighting against the marginalisation of Ndigbo and what he is fighting for has not been addressed. People are still facing that challenge today. If they don’t release him, he becomes a prisoner of conscience. There is no reason to keep him there.”
The senator revealed that South-East senators bloc led by Sen. Enyinnaya Abaribe had visited the Attorney-General of the Federation and during a meeting with him, requested that he helps to release Kanu, especially as the courts had ordered that he be freed.
He recalled that other Nigerians such as Omoyele Sowore,who was facing terrorism-related trials as Kanu, have been released and wondered why the IPOB leader’s case should be treated differently.
Sen. Umeh added: “They keep going front and back. There were people who have been standing trials for treason, like Sowore. The nolle prosequi was filed for him, to release him. He (Attorney General) should file a nolle prosequi for Nnamdi Kanu to be released.”
Nolle prosequi is a legal term used when a prosecutor asks a court to dismiss criminal charges and is unwilling to continue to pursue a matter against an accused.
Sen. Umeh also complained of the exclusion, in the 2025 federal budget, of the South-East in the rail line that runs from Port Harcourt to Maiduguri.
He called on the Federal Government to construct a standard gauge rail line from Port Harcourt to Maiduguri and not to merely rehabilitate the narrow gauge rail from Port Harcourt to Aba.
He said: “One issue I have been campaigning against is the exclusion of the Eastern rail line from the budget of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. I started doing that from 2018 when the government borrowed $6 billion to functionalize the Nigerian railways. The Eastern rail line that ran from Port Harcourt to Maiduguri was not included.
“I sponsored a motion and then Senators agreed that it should be included.
“In this 10th Senate, on 23 November 2024, I sponsored a motion for the government to build a standard gauge rail from Port Harcourt to Maiduguri; that rail line ran through the South-East, and 35 Senators co-sponsored the motion with me and all the prayers were approved and communicated to the President.
“I was surprised that when he (President Bola Tinubu) read his budget this year, he did not include it. I saw the lapse during the budget debate. I stood up and said that there was a great omission in that budget and from the figures I saw, that the rail line was not there, particularly as he has announced two legacy projects –Lagos to Calabar Coastal Highway; Badagry to Sokoto Highway.
“I was happy when the President came here (to Enugu in January 2025); someone raised it during interactive session and he promised to complete the Eastern rail line from Port Harcourt to Maiduguri. That promise is not the way it is.
“What we demanded for is construction of standard gauge rail. What he has done is rehabilitation of the narrow gauge from Port Harcourt to Aba.
“Just yesterday I saw that Chinese bank has released $254 million for the construction of cargo Kaduna-Maradi rail line.
“These are the things that we see and we are not happy. These are the type of things that Nnamdi Kanu is agitating against.
“That is why I have always from time supported his struggle. His struggle is against the marginalization of Igbo people.
“Do what you do to others, to Igbo people. I supported the return to the old national anthem because of stanza 3: ‘God of all creation, help us to build a nation where no man is oppressed’.
“Igbos are oppressed in Nigeria and everybody knows it. Let them open up and give us what we are entitled to. We are happy to work with Nigeria to prosper but to treat us this way is not good.
“So, this leadership of Ohanaeze is going to face a lot of challenges and elections will also come very soon. If they go into politics and leave fighting for the Igbos, they will fail.
“They have to be committed and focused even when what they are saying is not accepted by the authorities. They are representing the Igbo people and our interest should come first before any other consideration.”
