FORMER People's Democratic Party (PDP) deputy chairman Chief Bode George has added his voice to the growing calls for the federal government to find a political solution to the ongoing agitations for the recreation of the defunct republic of Biafra. 

Yesterday, Nnamdi Kanu, the Radio Biafra director appeared in court in Abuja where he was charged with a range of offences including incitement to violence, felony, criminal conspiracy, intimidation and belonging to an unlawful society. Thousands of Igbo youths turned up in solidarity with him and chanted songs calling for the creation of Biafra. 

Reminiscent of what happened in the Niger Delta and the northeast, disaffected youths see Mr Kanu as the situation to their hopelessness. Speaking while celebrating his 70th birthday in Lagos yesterday, Chief George advised President Muhammadu Buhari to handle pro-Biafran agitators with caution. 

Warning that Nigeria cannot survive another civil war, he said the government must not use force in dealing with the situation. Chief George also begged the Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra (Massob) and the Indigenous People of Biafra (Ipob) to stop their protests as secession was not the answer to Nigeria's problems. 

Chief George said: “I want to plead with the Biafran protesters to be patient and I urge them to tread softly. No nation goes to civil war twice and survives and we are still meandering to build nationhood. 

“Let us build this nation together and ensure that everyone has a sense of belonging. Sharing of resources and appointments should not be a winner-takes-all affair, so let us debate and deliberate over our affairs as dismembering the system through protests and agitations is not the solution.” 

Yesterday, the Department of State Services (DSS) asked the Wuse Zone Two Senior Magistrates’ Court in Abuja to discontinue trial of Nnamdi Kanu. Prosecution counsel Moses Idakwo, informed the court that after the arraignment of the accused, the complainant stumbled on some facts which took the matter out of the jurisdiction of the court. 

Mr Idakwo said that the DSS had also obtained an order from the Federal High Court, Abuja, dated November 10, to detain the accused in its custody for 90 days. Objecting, Mr Kanu’s counsel, Vincent Obetta, prayed the court not to discontinue the case because the prosecution did not present any information from the attorney-general of federation who had the authority to approve such. 

However, Mr Idakwo argued that the accused was involved in terrorism and has been financing it. After listening to both counsels, the magistrate, Usman Shuaibu, adjourned the matter until December 1 for ruling. 

Meanwhile, Eze Nwabueze Ohazulike, the president of the Association of Eze Ndigbo in Diaspora, has blamed the long neglect of the southeast by the federal government as the reason behind the sporadic demand for the creation of a sovereign Biafra State. Eze Ohazulike who is also the Eze Ndigbo of Lagos, said southeast Nigeria has been neglected and marginalised since independence.