By Kayode Oyero & Deborah Tolu-Kolawole
There are indications that the leaders of self-determination groups, Nnamdi Kanu of the Indigenous People of Biafra, and Sunday Adeyemo, aka Sunday Igboho, of the Yoruba Nation, are ready for discussions with the Federal Government.
Counsel for the Yoruba Nation and IPOB leaders, Yomi Aliyu, SAN, and Alloy Ejimakor, disclosed this in separate interviews with The PUNCH on Thursday.
The Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, SAN, had during a press briefing on Wednesday said the Federal Government would not rule out political solutions to resolving separatist agitations in the country.
Malami had also reiterated that though the Federal Government had not considered any political solution yet, it would not rule out any opportunity to broker peace with the self-determination agitators.
Aliyu told our correspondent that his client was ready to embrace dialogue as long as the Federal Government was ready to discuss with him.
He, however, stated that the negotiations would have to take place without interference from political and socio-cultural groups.
Aliyu said, “Every war ends at the roundtable. When youths are angry, you cannot use force to quench their anger. Some youths came to me and told me that they wanted to demonstrate and I told them to do it peacefully.
“When you don’t allow people to speak out, they go underground and what happens underground is what leads to revolution.
“Igboho’s wife, Ropo, called me and told me that this was what she heard. I told her to go and speak to her husband about it and she did. She is my niece and she called me back and said he told her that he was ready if they (Federal Government people) were ready. We are not negotiating through Afenifere or politicians or Ohanaeze or anybody. He is in the cell in Cotonou; let the Nigerian government come and negotiate with him.
“He is ready for peace so long as they are ready; but if they refuse, he said he is ready to die for what he believes in.”
Similarly, the coordinating counsel for Igboho’s legal team in Nigeria and Benin Republic, Olasupo Ojo, maintained that his client committed no crime and that self-determination was a fundamental human right.
He said the over four-month detention of his clients in Benin Republic was no longer a judicial, but a political matter.
Ojo said, “It is good that the Federal Government of Nigeria, through Malami, is finally admitting its involvement in the continuous incarceration of Sunday Igboho in the Republic of Benin’s prison, because if they are not part of it, they won’t be talking of political solutions.
“It is up to the government to determine what it wants to do and it is also an admission that these people have not committed any offence and it is all politics that is being played.”
Another member of Igboho’s legal team, Pelumi Olajengbesi, said the government not ruling out a political solution to address the matter was a welcome development.
Olajengbesi, however, said insecurity in the South-West and other challenges that forced Igboho to embrace secessionist agitation must be addressed.
He said, “It is a welcome development. Sunday Igboho is not against political solutions to the crisis that is on the ground, because his desire is for people to live peacefully and have safety and security in the country.
“If we must resolve this matter politically, the Federal Government must come clean and it needs to apologise to Chief Sunday Igboho…
