Human rights activist and politician Omoyele Sowore has proposed a comprehensive approach to national healing that would include the release of detained IPOB leader Nnamdi Kanu and a truth and reconciliation process involving key historical figures.
Speaking on the Mic on Podcast platform from 3:38, Sowore outlined his vision for addressing Nigeria’s unresolved historical grievances.
“I think this is part of how we can start that national healing—release Nnamdi Kanu, call for dialogue, get everybody to sit down, Gowon is still around, let all of them sit across the table and say, ‘Look, we want to confront one of our ugliest pasts, which is the civil war,'” he proposed.
The activist drew comparisons between the government’s approach to conflicts in different regions of Nigeria, pointing to the Niger Delta amnesty program as a model.
“We are confronting our past in the Niger Delta region. You have forgiven Ken Saro-Wiwa, lightly driven by the need to go and start re-exploitation of oil from Ogoniland, but you could see that hard work,” Sowore noted.
He highlighted the transformation of former militants into wealthy individuals through the amnesty and reconciliation process.
“You meet all the militants, they used to be in hiding; now they are billionaires. Tompolo just donated 10 billion Naira to Delta State. He’s probably richer than Delta State,” he stated.
Sowore argued that dialogue and amnesty had prevented further escalation in the oil-rich region.
“So if, for instance, you continue fighting the insurgency in the Niger Delta region—probably they would have shut down the entire oil production in the country by now,” he observed.
The activist then contrasted the government’s engagement with various armed groups against its treatment of Nnamdi Kanu.
“You are looking at insurgents, Boko Haram, bandits. You are meeting with them. You even grant them the opportunity to come to your meetings with their RPGs and their magazines. You even send delegations to attend their children’s naming ceremonies,” Sowore said.
He questioned the disproportionate response to Kanu, whose primary platform has been media-based advocacy.
“And then there’s a guy whose only weapon, regardless of what they tell you that you could provide in public, is a radio broadcast,” he concluded.
The comments underscore ongoing debates about consistency in the federal government’s approach to different separatist and insurgent movements across Nigeria. See, More, Here>>>
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