Popular political analyst, Reno Omokri has condemned the use of force in demanding the release of those in incarceration.
OsunDailyNG reports that various public figures have urged President Bola Tinubu to release the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, so as to put an end to the unrest in the South-East.
According to them, the violence in the region would end as soon as the Federal Government set Kanu free.
However, Omokri opined that it is unwise for the region to hurt itself while trying to spite those in power.
He described it as ‘cutting your own nose’.
The former presidential aide referred to how the Yorubas acted when MKO Abiola was in jail and urged the region to take a page out of their book.
Omokri wrote, “When Abiola was in jail, the Yorubas did not destroy their region to force Abacha to release MKO Abiola. Rather, they used diplomacy to turn Abacha into an international pariah until Abacha was forced to offer Abiola bail (which Abiola ultimately refused). Mohammed Abacha was in prison for three years. How was he released? Kano elders sought an audience with Obasanjo in 2002 and publicly prostrated to him.
“The next month, the court freed Mohammed. Asari Dokubo was in prison for treason for two years until Niger Delta elders used diplomacy to get President Yar’adua to release him in 2007. What militancy could not do, diplomacy did! I cannot imagine any truly intelligent person saying until you release our son, we will keep destroying our region. Who loses? Fight intelligently, not forcefully. You are cutting your nose and thinking you are spiting those in power? And nobody can even counsel you guys. It is either you know better than those who want to counsel you and start to lecture them, or you insult them. The Yorubas used diplomacy as leverage. Kano people used it. Niger Delta used it. You, too, use it. It will serve you better than this path of self-destruction.
“No government can give in to force. The minute they do, they are finished, because others will smell weakness and engage in their own violence.”
