Retired Col. Umar Warns Against Re-Arresting IPOB Leader

Former army colonel and retired military administrator of Kaduna State Abubakar Dangiwa Umar, says that re-arresting Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB leader Nnamdi Kanu, and clamping him jail a second time, could be dangerous and politically unwise.

Col Umar is an outspoken critic and now leads Movement for Unity and Progress, MUP. In the news release, the retired colonel stated that the IPOB leader Kanu is not a common criminal.

Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice had last week applied to the courts to have Kanu’s bail revoked. This was after the Coalition of Arewa Group, CAG, called for the IPOB leaders arrest while suspending quite notice earlier handed to Igbos in the North.

“Mazi Kanu is not a common criminal as the government appears to think. On the contrary, he is a bitter young man fighting for a fairer deal for his Igbo kinsmen. His seeming militant approach is the result
of the strong arm tactics with which the Federal Government deals with
him,” stated Col. Umar.

According to the former military governor, long incarceration of the IPOB leader before a court granted him bail testifies to this. “Like Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, many Igbos genuinely feel marginalized since they belong to the
category of those who gave Mr. President only 5% of their votes and appeared to have fallen out of his favour,” he said.

Buhari’s insistence that the unity of Nigeria is a sealed issue, according Umar stemmed from the president’s experience as a veteran of civil war. But the retired Col noted that such view does not take into account the mood of the nation as indicated by the growing agitations for self-determination, restructuring and many other similar demands.

“If indeed the President is able to ignore and silence those agitators, it will be a case of suspended animation. All indications are that Nigeria has become so polarized that it requires a strong personality like General Buhari to sustain its fragile unity,” he
said.

But he pointed out that this does not bode well for the survival of the nation. “Most Nigerians are convinced of the need to maintain Nigeria’s unity, cognizant of the enormous benefits all sections drive from a large, diverse and resource rich country.

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