Former Senate Minority Leader, Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe, has described the life sentence handed to Mazi Nnamdi Kanu for terrorism as a foreseen plot against the IPOB leader.
Speaking through a statement in Abuja by his media adviser, Uchenna Awom, Abaribe said the outcome was not surprising to the Igbo nation and other concerned Nigerians.
He added that the federal government’s refusal to extend amnesty to Kanu, unlike other groups, made the sentencing inevitable.
“Is it not an irony that negotiations and peace deals with rampaging terrorists in the North East and North West were gleefully initiated by local, state and federal authorities, just like the amnesty to ex-militants in the South South, who were rewarded with lucrative oil pipeline contracts. This is to say that justice in Nigeria is not for the South East,” Abaribe said.
He noted, “So we are not surprised. Our people can only endure and hope for a time when justice in Nigeria would become the sine qua non. We have done our best, we have variously made the case for the authorities to be circumspect and at least accede to pardon for the sake of unity and inclusiveness.”
Abaribe urged the Igbo nation to place its hope in President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
“We ask the Igbo nation and other lovers of Nigeria to remain calm, pray and not take the law into their hands,” he said.
“May Nigeria succeed, thrive and advance in justice, equity and fairness,” he added.
The article was originally published on Politics Nigeria.