Professor Isaac Olawale Albert has called for a more consistent approach by the Nigerian government in handling the cases of Nnamdi Kanu and Sunday Adeyemo, popularly known as Sunday Igboho, as well as armed groups operating in different parts of the country.
Albert, a professor of peace and conflict studies at the University of Ibadan (UI), said Nigerians should be treated equally regardless of the region from which their grievances or political activities emerged.
Speaking in an interview with PrimeStar News Online, Albert said the circumstances surrounding Igboho and Kanu should not simply be treated as identical because their actions and cases were different.
He said Igboho had travelled to the Oke-Ogun area to demand that some Fulani people leave communities where he believed they were causing problems.
Albert said one could argue that Igboho had no legal authority to issue such an order, but added that Igboho had not declared a separate country or raised a flag against Nigeria.
He described the handling of Igboho’s case as highly political and recalled the security operation at his Ibadan residence, after which Igboho fled to the Republic of Benin.
On Kanu, however, Albert said there were also actions for which the IPOB leader should take responsibility.
He referred to statements associated with Kanu during the period of the #EndSARS protests and allegations that he encouraged people to attack or destroy property.
Albert said Kanu had also behaved improperly in court, including insulting a judge and addressing the judge by name.
He therefore argued that Kanu should not simply be released without addressing the issues surrounding his conduct.
At the same time, he questioned why the government had developed programmes for the rehabilitation and reintegration of repentant Boko Haram members without considering whether a comparable approach could be used for people associated with separatist violence in the South-East.
“Why is there no Operation Safe Corridor in the South-East?” he asked.
Albert said the question was not necessarily an argument for releasing Kanu without conditions but for applying consistent principles in dealing with citizens and political grievances.
He suggested that Kanu could acknowledge wrongdoing and apologise as part of any negotiated settlement, while the government could also acknowledge mistakes it had made in its handling of the crisis.
According to him, both sides might have to recognise their errors if a lasting solution was to be found.
Albert said Nigeria needed a conflict-management approach capable of addressing grievances before they escalated into prolonged violence.
