TheCable

Orji Kalu, senate chief whip, says the detained members of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and associates of Sunday Igboho deserve to be granted amnesty.

The former Abia governor said they should be given the same treatment as repentant Boko Haram insurgents and bandits.

In a statement issued on Tuesday, Kalu said granting them amnesty will improve unity in the country.

“I pleaded with most of our elders in the north and in the south-west; we cannot continue to fight at all times,” he said.

“I am still pleading with them and the federal government to intervene so that we can have a peaceful country. A lot of insurgents and bandits have been granted amnesty.

“I believe in the unity of this country, and I believe this country is better off being in unity, so the best way we can get it is to make sure that IPOB and followers of Sunday Igboho are granted amnesty.

“There is a need to call a roundtable, even without the federal government. This is what the elders can do and give the federal government for endorsement, so we can have peace in our country.

“If we continue this rancour, it wouldn’t augur well, because people are purchasing arms and they are not only being used for this struggle, they are used for kidnapping, banditry and other things, we don’t deserve this.”

Commenting on the continued adherence to the sit-at-home order of IPOB, the senator said the development is detrimental to the economic survival of the south-east.

Kalu said the development will result in pervasive hardship and the loss of billions of naira.

“I never believed in sit-at-home, because each day they do so, billions of naira is lost, and there are families that the only money they make is the one they make daily,” he said.

“Any day they don’t make daily money, they don’t feed. So, I don’t think it is the right thing to do at this time for our people, because you cannot punish the same people you say you want to protect.”