By Mahmoud
The lawmaker representing Abia North, Senator Orji Uzor Kalu, on Sunday lamented that the secessionist agitations linked to the activities of the convicted leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, Nnamdi Kanu, led to the death of over 30,000 people and the destruction of businesses across the South-East.
Kanu disclosed this when he was featured as a guest on Channels Television’s Politics Today.
Speaking against the backdrop of Kanu’s recent conviction on terrorism charges, the former Abia governor cautioned political actors and supporters to shelve what he described as “noise making” and instead pursue a political resolution to the crisis.
The lawmaker argued that public discourse has been disproportionately fixated on clashes involving security operatives while ignoring the mass casualties and business losses suffered by ordinary people across the South-East.
He said, “I wouldn’t like to talk about this issue. It’s not the time for noise-making or fighting. It’s a time for sober reflection. We have to solve this problem holistically. Do you know that over 30,000 Igbos were killed? People who have shops lost their businesses.
“I used to sell my own manufactured products in Aba. I know what the numbers were. But people are just talking about soldiers killed and not the rest of them. The problem of Nnamdi Kanu is what we need to solve through political process.
“Just as the theory Bianca Ojukwu and Mascot Kalu propounded, they (people) should stop the noise and focus on the settlement with the federal government. Let me tell you. I have been working with the Federal Government on how to solve this issue.”
Kalu described the destruction as widespread and deeply personal, recalling traders who lost their livelihoods, including his late mother’s friend, whose rice business was wiped out during the unrest.
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