By Prosper Mene
Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu implored the Igbo community, known as Ndigbo, to pursue peaceful dialogue as the path forward following the recent life imprisonment of Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) leader Mazi Nnamdi Kanu.
Speaking at the 14th annual Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu Memorial Day Celebration in Owerri, Imo State, Ojukwu, a widow of the iconic Biafran war leader, stressed that anger and violence would only deepen the wounds of a region already plagued by insecurity and economic stagnation. “Nnamdi Kanu is in prison; we should not get angry, and it is not an issue to use knives, guns, or fighting ourselves in order to solve it,” she declared, her voice steady with the weight of history.
The event, held at the Ojukwu Memorial Library and organized by the Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) founder Chief Ralph Uwazuruike, drew a somber crowd reflecting on the legacies of the 1967-1970 Nigerian Civil War. Ojukwu opened her address with a minute of silence for the late BBC journalist Frederick Forsyth, who resigned from his position to chronicle the Biafran struggle, a nod to the enduring scars of that era.
Kanu, arrested in 2021 after jumping bail and extradited from Kenya, was convicted on terrorism charges last week in a Sokoto court, marking a dramatic escalation in Nigeria’s crackdown on separatist movements. The sentence has ignited fears of renewed unrest in the South-East, where weekly “sit-at-home” orders enforced by IPOB affiliates have crippled commerce and fueled a cycle of violence. Ojukwu decried the low business activity in the zone, attributing it directly to the pervasive insecurity.
Yet, the minister held out a beacon of hope. “Though the court of first instance had sentenced Kanu to imprisonment, all hope is not lost,” she said. Drawing parallels to her late husband’s own exile after the war, Ojukwu recounted how dialogue under then-President Shehu Shagari led to his unconditional pardon in 1982. “With dialogue and peaceful means, Nnamdi Kanu could be released from the Sokoto Correctional Centre,” she added, urging stakeholders, including governors, senators, clergy, traditional rulers, and business leaders to unite in engaging President Bola Tinubu’s administration.
This marks Ojukwu’s second public intervention in as many weeks on the Kanu matter. Shortly after the verdict on November 20, she issued a statement from Zanzibar, where she was on a monitoring exercise, describing the outcome as “not anticipated nor prayed for, but a reality now upon us.” In that missive, she warned against actions that could inflame tensions domestically or among Nigerian diaspora communities abroad, emphasizing that “now is the time for all in Ala Igbo to work together sincerely for a political resolution involving all South Eastern states.”
Ojukwu’s plea shows a timeless lesson from Nigeria’s turbulent past: Peace, forged through conversation rather than confrontation, may be the only viable route to healing. “All of us should come together, plan ourselves on how to use peaceful means to settle this matter,” she concluded. “We should plan how to meet with President Bola Tinubu and amicably resolve this matter.”
The memorial event also served as a reminder of Ojukwu’s enduring role as a bridge-builder, blending diplomacy with cultural advocacy. Whether her call will temper the fires of agitation remains to be seen, but in a nation often divided by ethnicity and history, it offers a rare voice of measured optimism.
