Why it will be dangerous to re-arrest Nnamdi Kanu – PDP chief Babatope

– Chief Ebenezer Babatope, a member of the PDP Board of Trustees, warns the government against re-arresting Nnamdi Kanu

– Babatope advises the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari to dialogue with the IPOB leader

– He also commends the government for the way it handled the threat against Igbo people in the north

Any attempt to re-arrest Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), will lead to a national crisis, Chief Ebenezer Babatope, a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has warned.

Babatope, a former transport minister and member of the PDP Board of Trustees (BoT), however said he was not in support of Kanu’s agitation for Nigeria’s break-up.

Daily Independent reports that the former minister advised the government to dialogue with Kanu for peace instead of engaging in the use of force.

“I am not going to support any movement that is to split Nigeria, but then you cannot handle Kanu with strong hands.

“You must understand what the boy is saying. You must be patient enough to listen to him and his group.

“I don’t agree with those calling for his re-arrest. Why must you go and re-arrest him? Let us do things that will engender peace and unity of the country.

“I don’t agree with Kanu on some of the things he has said but he is a young man whose life has been brutalised by unnecessary imprisonment and detention.

“So, we should understand and let him and his group knows that Nigeria does not want to separate his people from what is happening in the country,” he reportedly said.

The PDP chieftain commended the government for the way it handled the threat against Igbo people in the north by Arewa youths.

“The government has done very well to ban it. It is a stupid call. How do you ask Nigerians to vacate certain areas of their own country? I don’t believe in it.

“When Biafra war was on, I was pro- Biafra. I was hundred percent pro-Biafra because i said Biafra was demanding justice for Nigerian people in terms of how we devolve power,” he said.