30,000 Deaths: Pan-Igbo Activists Accuse Kalu of Using Nnamdi Kanu to Woo Tinubu

Orji Uzor Kalu, a senator from Abia North, has been accused by The Rising Sun Group, a coalition of pan-Igbo rights activists, of leveraging the issue of Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), to gain favor with President Bola Tinubu.

In an interview with Channels Television, Kalu, a former governor of Abia State, said that Kanu’s agitation killed 30,000 people in the South-East. He added that he has been working hard to secure Kanu’s release from custody.

The senator was responding to concerns over Kanu’s terrorism conviction and the life sentence that Justice James Omotosho’s Abuja Federal High Court handed down.
In a statement released on Wednesday, Rising Sun’s organizers, Maxwell Dede and Reverend Father Augustine Odinmegwa, refuted Kalu’s assertions, claiming that the senator is one of the Igbo elite members who will do everything to further their political agendas.
Instead of defending what they called Kanu’s persecution, the pan-Igbo activists stated that Orji Kalu should have remained silent if he had nothing to say.

“Our attention has been drawn to Sunday’s interview by Senator Orji Uzor Kalu, representing Abia North, on Channels TV, where he claimed that over 30,000 people had died due to the agitation by the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPoB, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu,” the statement stated in part. During the conversation, the former governor of Abia also backed Justice James Omotosho about his notorious Kanu verdict.

Senator Kalu chose to criticize Nnamdi Kanu for his outraged response to Justice Omotosho’s blatant injustice rather than remain silent if he had nothing worthwhile to say. As if it weren’t enough, Senator Kalu started making exaggerated claims about his alleged role in getting Kanu released in 2017. Additionally, he denigrated the Igbo and everyone who was dissatisfied with the aforementioned ruling, which can only be described as a mockery of justice. Even though we are offended by such careless comments, we are not shocked because we are aware that a leopard cannot alter the color of its skin. The long-held belief in many quarters that Senator Kalu is a member of the Igbo elite willing to play any role due to political interest was only confirmed.

However, Ndigbo will not tolerate any attempt by Orji Uzor Kalu to use Kanu’s case to gain the presidency’s favor. He is only half-smart for believing that he could acquire Tinubu’s favor—possibly for a return trip in 2027—by using careless vituperation and unguarded remarks against the IPOB leader.

It is well known that Orji Uzor Kalu was one of the people who vehemently opposed Tinubu’s presidential campaign in 2023, when he publicly supported Ahmed Lawan, the Senate President at the time. Nigerians are not as stupid as Senator Kalu believes. The true reason for his sudden passion for President Tinubu is already known to them.

The activists further claimed that by equating Nnamdi Kanu’s “alleged unruly behavior” in court with Kalu’s “calmness” during his trial for alleged financial fraud, Kalu offended the Igbo people.

Kalu should realize that there is no connection between the crime for which he was found guilty and imprisoned and “the trumped-up charges, biased trial, of subsequent strange conviction of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu,” the statement emphasized.

Rising Sun urged the senator to quit exposing himself in his quest for political relevance, pointing out that Kalu would have no place in government if it weren’t for Nigeria’s faulty electoral system. The statement went on, “We want to warm him to stop using Nnamdi Kanu’s matter to play politics.”

In a similar vein, Rising Sun questioned why, despite all he claimed to have done, Kalu—who it described as Tinubu’s political age-mate—has not been able to mediate a political resolution to Kanu’s case. The senator was urged by the group to “do the needful.”

What is preventing him from resolving Kanu’s political situation if he feels he has the authority and clout to do so? Orji Uzor Kalu, a prominent member of the ruling party, former governor, and political ally of President Ahmed Tinubu, ought to take the initiative to find a political solution for Kanu’s release without waiting for anybody else. He should use his unrestricted access to the authorities to take the necessary action, according to the statement.

Rising Sun also refuted Orji Uzor Kalu’s allegations regarding the killings in the South-East, saying, “Can he explain the world who authorized the mentioned atrocities because he says that over 30,000 persons were killed in the South-East as a result of the agitation by Nnamdi Kanu?

Will Senator Kalu pretend to be unaware that security forces are killing IPOB members in a genocidal manner without provocation? Did he mean the massacre of Biafra agitators at a pro-Trump demonstration in Port Harcourt, the massacre of IPOB members praying at Nkpor and Onitsha, or the massacre of those praying at the National High School Aba? How could Orji Uzor Kalu legitimately accuse IPOB members of committing an innocent crime when they are actually the unfortunate victims of security forces’ brutality?

“We caution Orji Uzor Kalu and his colleagues political opportunists not to make any more careless or deceptive comments about Kanu’s experience. Anyone who betrays his countrymen for personal gain will be judged by history.