Silencing Kanu Is Not the Solution, Dele Momodu Tells Government

Dele Momodu, a media entrepreneur, has joined the growing calls for Nnamdi Kanu, the imprisoned leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, or IPOB, to be freed.

Momodu discussed Kanu’s protracted arrest and the underlying causes of separatist sentiment in the South-East in a post on his X account on Tuesday. The post contained one of the IPOB leader’s previous broadcasts.

He argued that the Biafra movement is a result of the Igbo people’s years of marginalization and hardship.

“Shortly before his kidnapping from Kenya by the Nigerian government, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu made this thought-provoking broadcast in which he philosophized about the reasons he and his supporters became radicalized,” Momodu stated in the post.

He criticized people who denounced Kanu and his supporters without taking into account the political and historical context of the resurgence of agitation.

“I have listened to his detractors and found that most of them only made snap judgments without properly analyzing why Biafra agitation became attractive, fanciful, and rekindled after the pogrom that destroyed unimaginable properties and claimed millions of lives in the 1960s and 1970s,” he stated.

He claimed that the “continuing marginalization of the Igbo, and deprivation accorded some of the most energetic and vibrant brains in Africa, and globally, rekindled the Biafra sentiment.”

Momodu warned that the ongoing situation will not be resolved by attempts to quiet or kill Kanu.

“Kanu’s enemies, including his own kin, will never be able to eradicate him,” he declared.

Instead of using repression, he emphasized that “serious political reconfiguration” was necessary for the Igbo struggle.

“I will never be in favor of violence.” However, any wise government will keep the South East’s bright minds occupied with constructive engagements rather than this frenzied animosity,” he continued.