Detention won’t end Igbo agitation, says Dele Momodu

Media entrepreneur and publisher of Ovation International, Dele Momodu, has warned that the continued incarceration of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) leader, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, will not extinguish separatist agitation in the South-East.

Momodu said Kanu’s campaign mirrors what he described as long-standing frustration in the South-East over decades of alleged marginalisation.

In a post on his X handle on Tuesday, Momodu shared an old broadcast of Kanu, said to have been recorded shortly before his 2021 arrest in Kenya and repatriation to Nigeria. He said the excerpt captured Kanu explaining how what he called systemic injustice radicalised many in the region — a submission Momodu said requires sober reflection, not casual condemnation.

He noted that critics of the IPOB leader often fail to interrogate the underlying causes triggering renewed Biafra sentiment. Such sympathy, he said, has grown on the back of the “continuing marginalisation of the Igbo”, which he argued has denied some of the most energetic minds in the region the opportunity to contribute to national development.

Momodu recalled the memories of the 1960s pogrom and the civil war — events he said still inform the political identity of the zone and deepen its sense of exclusion.

“Attempts by enemies of Kanu, including his kinsmen, to exterminate him will never solve the problem,” he wrote, insisting that the “Igbo question goes beyond legalese and requires serious and urgent political reconfiguration.”

While disavowing violence, he urged the Federal Government to adopt a more inclusive strategy, one that prioritises engagement rather than alienation.

“I will never support violence, but any sensible government will keep the geniuses of the South-East productively engaged, instead of this rabid hatred,” he said.

He ended the post with the hashtag #FreeNnamdiKanuNow, adding his voice to the calls for Kanu’s release. The IPOB leader is facing charges bordering on terrorism and incitement.