The Governor of Anambra State, Charles Soludo has said he's not in support of the Southeast leaving Nigeria.
According to him, Igbos need Nigeria the same way Nigeria needs Igbos.
He stated this while speaking on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Sunday.
Soludo asserted that the South-East’s progress is tied to its unity with Nigeria.
The former Central Bank of Nigeria governor stated that while he supports dialogue and peaceful agitation, he does not share Kanu’s secessionist vision for the Igbo nation.
“We’ve made it very clear that if you are protesting or agitating for anything, you are holding yourself down by killing your own people under the pretext of Monday’s sit-at-home,” Soludo said.
He noted that the controversial sit-at-home directive has largely fizzled out in Anambra, adding, “Anybody sitting at home now is doing so out of his own preference, not because of insecurity, as it were, because everywhere is secure on Mondays.”
The governor acknowledged that Kanu’s IPOB had publicly dissociated itself from the sit-at-home order, blaming criminal elements for using it to terrorise residents.
“Even Nnamdi Kanu himself and his IPOB are on record to have said they did not support the Monday sit-at-home; it was some criminal elements doing that. And we thank them for their work,” he added.
While affirming his respect for the right to protest, Soludo emphasised that his administration’s focus remains on governance, not activism.
“As for those who are agitating or going to have demonstrations, they have a right to do so. In a democracy, everybody has freedom of expression. But mine is to govern. While social activists do their job, I will do my own,” he stated.
Soludo disclosed that he had previously urged Ohanaeze Ndigbo and other South-East leaders to engage Kanu in dialogue when he is released, stressing that no single individual holds a monopoly on ideas about the region’s future.
“I said, why don’t they tell Nnamdi Kanu to come and sit with everybody else, because nobody has a greater right than the other? We are all Igbos, and we are all entitled to our views,” he said.
Rejecting separatist tendencies, the governor reaffirmed his belief in the indivisibility of Nigeria and the interdependence of its ethnic groups.
“I am of the view that the Igbo man needs Nigeria and Nigeria needs the Igbo man. The Igbo man needs Africa, and Africa needs the Igbo man. We are an itinerant people who cannot afford to be intolerant. That’s my view,” he said.