There was uneasy calm in Umuahia, the capital city of Abia State following the news of the rearrest of the leader of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Mazi Nnamdi Kanu by the Department of Security Service (DSS) and other security agencies.
Recall that the Federal Government of Nigeria, on Tuesday disclosed that it rearrested the self-acclaimed Biafran leader after a collaboration with other international security agents.
The Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, SAN who confirmed the development, said he was arrested by a combined team of Nigerian and foreign security agents in a coordinated interception.
Against this backdrop, he was dragged before Justice Binta Nyako of an Abuja Federal High Court for the continuation of his trial.
Justice Nyako, after listening to Kanu and the government, remanded him in the custody of the Department of State Services, DSS.
Kanu had a few years ago jumped bail and escaped from the country over alleged threat to his life.
However, our correspondent who toured Umuahia city observed a calm atmosphere as residents were seen attending to their normal businesses without fear or molestation.
A visit to the country home of the IPOB leader at isiama Afaraukwu Ibeku, Aba road, Azikwe road, Umuwaya road, Bank road in Umuahia North Local Government Area revealed that people were seen at several locations including newspaper stands, expressing divergent views on the fate of the IPOB leader in the latest travails.
At Afaraukwu, Umuahia residence of the IPOB leader, there was uneasy calm in the area as shops, schools residential houses were opened for businesses. The usual military patrol being experienced around Afaraukwu continues as a result of the activities of the IPOB.
It was gathered that within and outside Kanu’s residence was calm as residents were attending to their businesses with many grouped, discussing the fate of Nnamdi Kanu in the hand of the federal government following his rearrest.
While others were calling on the federal government to tread with caution in the handling of the case of treason allegation levelled against Nnamdi Kanu, they posited that the pro-Biafra leader should be freed as he and members of the IPOB have maintained non-violent posture in their clamour for succession.
However, in a chat with Newsmen on Wednesday, a resident of Umuahia city, Samuel Chibuzo cautioned the federal government and its security agents against harming Nnamdi Kanu, opining that the Biafra agitator was exercising his fundamental right as enshrined in the constitution of the land, and the international law.
He added that Kanu’s secessionist agitation for the Igbo nation should be addressed diligently, expressing fear that if the matter is not handled in a transparent manner, it is capable of destabilizing the country.
Also speaking, another resident, Chukwunyere Uche Ugele feared that there may be uprising in the country if the government fails to address the demands of the Biafran agitators.
Ugele believed that Kanu and members of the proscribed IPOB have right to go to wherever they want and berated the federal government and some igbo leaders for their inability to address the aged-long marginalization of the southeast of Igbo bloc.
According to him, “I believe Nnamdi Kanu was just exercising his right, because, if you look at what is happening in Nigeria, you will agree with me that Igbos are not anywhere in the governance of this nation. There is total negligence of the Igbo race.
“All this myriads of agitations in the east and other parts of the country are as a result of bad governance which has foisted a huge havoc on the people of southeast of Igbo extraction. So, I believe, Kanu should be left to go, and I am using this medium to caution the government and security forces, that they should treat Kanu with decorum. He is not a criminal, he is exercising rights as you also have right to demand better care for your people.
In her submission, a female trader who gave her name as Charity Uwakwe called on the federal authority to free Kanu, adding that his rearrest and re-arraingment would further heighten tension in the southeast and the country as a whole.
She advised the IPOB leader, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu to thread with caution in some of his utterances which sometime, she opined, was not in the interest of national security.
Harping on the peaceful resolution of the matter between the federal government and the Nnamdi Kanu -led Indigenous People of Biafra, Mrs. Uwakwe urged all parties to embrace dialogue, describing it as a lasting solution to douse tension in the southeast and her environs.
Disenchanted on the lastest development, a civil servant who pleaded anonymity appealed to Kanu to soft pedal in his clamour and embrace the door of dialogue in the interest of the unity of the country.
He admitted that the government of the day has failed in every strata of governance as regard the place of the Igbo nation in the present day Nigeria, calling on the pro-biafra group and its security outfit to allow the leaders come up with a well defined template that will see to an end, the several ethnic agitations across the country.
