Cajetan Mmuta, Awka
The Anambra’ state Governor Prof. Charles Soludo has expressed readiness to forward a formal letter to the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Mallam Abubakar Malami to request for an unconditional release of leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) Mazi Nnamdi Kanu.
Soludo is believed to be working round the clock and setting the ground ready with wide consultations among core stakeholders across the five states in the Southeast geo political zone towards ensuring a fruitful dialogue aimed at dousing the tensed state of insecurity in the area.
He had recently appealed to the federal government under President Muhammadu Buhari to release Mazi Kanu as he is critical for the planned dialogue to stem the wave of insecurity in the Southeast, pledging his readiness to stand as surety so that the government should release Kanu to him and that he would produce him any time the IPOB leader is needed by the relevant authority lies.
There is fear and specualations that following the spate of killings and destruction of properties that elections might not hold in the troubled parts of Southeast despite the assurance by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
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But speaking during a live Channels Television flagship programme, “Politics Today” Thursday night, Soludo promised that his letter to the AGF would be ready in a matter of days.
The Governor insisted that for the peace and security of the South-East, there is need for stakeholders to rally round the table to discuss, to which Nnamdi Kanu is a critical component.
While appreciating President Muhammadu Buhari for his efforts on security in the South-East, especially the adoption of a kinetic approach, Soludo said it was now time for some home truth to be told, which he said would be exploring the non-kinetic approach to solving the problem of insecurity in the region.
While calling on stakeholders in the region to rise up to the occasion, the governor dismissed insinuations from some quarters that the demand he made was a political statement, expressing genuine concern about the present condition of the region for a sustainable future which he said would not be attainable without sustainable security.
He stressed that the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) is the third largest political party; a home and future of true progressives in the country and maintained that in the forthcoming election in February and March, the party would be competing across board, to win.
He noted that the late Dim Odumegwu Ojukwu was the first National Leader of APGA, after which former Governor Willie Obiano took over and he eventually stepped in as the third, stressing that Governor Obiano’s position in the party as the BOT Chairman subsists as was attested to, during the flag-off ceremony.
He stated that as the National leader of APGA, enormous responsibility lies on him to pilot his party to victory, from top downwards.
Speaking on the likelihood of nursing a Presidential ambition, Soludo wondered why people left the issues addressed in his letter to start making insinuations, stating that only God would know what woukd happen in future and not man, just as he emphasized that the letter was not written for today but for history.
He explained that having been elected Governor of Anambra State, he had come to serve the people, recalling how he started from a global level, down to the federal and state levels.
He assured that for him, the major focus would be on delivering his administration’s five pillars of development, which he said he was gradually addressing.
