A group of pan-Igbo rights advocates, known as The Rising Sun Group, has accused Abia North senator, Orji Uzor Kalu, of exploiting the situation of the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, Nnamdi Kanu, to win favor from President Bola Tinubu.
Kalu, who previously served as the governor of Abia State, stated in an interview on Channels Television that Kanu’s activism led to the deaths of 30,000 individuals in the South-East. He also mentioned that he has been actively working to secure Kanu’s release from custody.
The senator was addressing the controversies surrounding Kanu’s terrorism conviction and the life sentence imposed on him by an Abuja Federal High Court under Justice James Omotosho.
Rising Sun, in a statement released on Wednesday by its coordinators, Maxwell Dede and Reverend Father Augustine Odinmegwa, challenged Kalu’s assertions, claiming that the senator is among a group of Igbo elites willing to do anything to further their political ambitions.
The pan-Igbo activists maintained that Orji Kalu should have remained silent if he had no substantial input on the issue, rather than justifying what they termed Kanu’s persecution.
Parts of the statement read, “We have been alerted to Sunday’s interview with Senator Orji Uzor Kalu, representing Abia North, on Channels TV, where he asserted that over 30,000 individuals have died as a result of the agitation led by the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPoB, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu. The former governor of Abia also defended Justice James Omotosho regarding his controversial ruling on Kanu.
“Rather than staying silent if he had nothing meaningful to contribute, Senator Kalu opted to criticize Nnamdi Kanu for his justified outrage against the blatant injustice inflicted upon him by Justice Omotosho. As if that were insufficient, Senator Kalu proceeded to make exaggerated claims about his supposed role in securing Kanu’s release.