By Tony Adibe
Senator Victor Umeh has made a passionate appeal to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu during his visit to Anambra State, demanding the unconditional release and pardon of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), who has remained in detention since 2021.
Speaking during President Tinubu’s visit to Anambra state, Umeh, who represents Anambra Central Senatorial District, described Kanu’s continued incarceration by the Department of State Services (DSS) as “unjust, discriminatory, and a symbol of imbalance in the Nigerian justice system.”
NewsBits recalls that President Tinubu, was in Anambra on the 8th of May for a series of official engagements.
“Why is Nnamdi Kanu still in detention?” Umeh asked in a point-blank manner. “He is not a criminal. He is a freedom fighter who speaks for his people. Agitators like Omoyele Sowore and Sunday Igboho were released. What has Kanu done that they didn’t do?” he asked repeatedly.
The senator criticized what he called the “selective treatment” of political agitators and urged President Tinubu to ensure that justice was equally applied to all citizens, regardless of their region or ethnicity.
“Detaining him (Kanu) while others walk free is unfair and exposes a troubling double standard,” Umeh said.
NewsBits also recalls that the issue of “selective treatment” once played out clearly after the then Maj.-Gen Muhammadu Buhari overthrew President Shehu Shagari-led democratically elected government on December 30, 1983. While Buhari’s military junta threw the Vice President, Dr Alex Ekwueme, into Kirikiri Maximum Prison, Lagos, even when investigation never found Ekwueme wanting, Shagari, his boss, was, however, kept under house arrest. Ekwueme wouldn’t have been given such “selective treatment” had he not been an Igbo, according to critics.
Umeh also spoke strongly on some issues, which have remained serious sources of concern to the Southeast region. He bemoaned what he regarded as the “dilapidated condition” of federal roads, the absence of railway infrastructure, and what he described as “systematic exclusion” of Southeast youth from federal employment opportunities.
The lawmaker recalled that he had moved two separate motions in the Senate to address these infrastructure deficits, but no significant action had been taken.
“Mr. President, you must not leave the East without responding to these critical issues,” Umeh asserted. “We are Nigerians like everyone else. We deserve inclusion, not as a favour, but as a right.”
Appealing for urgent steps to integrate the Southeast into national development, Senator Umeh emphasised that unity cannot be achieved while an entire region feels abandoned. He advised President Tinubu to demonstrate through concrete actions that his administration represents all parts of the country.
Umeh said, “We demand fairness, inclusion, and justice. The Igbo people are not happy, and it’s time their voices are truly heard.” President Tinubu was in Anambra on May 8, for a series of official engagements.
