Don't use Kanu’s release as 2027 election bargaining chip, SEDC MD warns

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By Madu Obi

The Managing Director/CEO of the South East Development Commission (SEDC), Mr. Mark Okoye, has cautioned against using the potential release of the jailed leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, as a tool to influence votes in the South East during the 2027 general elections.

In a statement at the weekend, Okoye warned that such narratives risk oversimplifying the region’s deeper challenges.

According to him, peace and prosperity are not built on shortcuts, but through sustained investment, stability, and strategic development.

Okoye said: "Those insisting that Mr. President must release Kanu to win the South East votes in 2027 risk trivializing the deeper work required.

Peace and prosperity are not built on shortcuts. They are built through investment, stability, and a clear pathway to growth.

Let us be guided by what we lived through, not by what is convenient to say on social media. We all remember how sit-at-home orders crippled livelihoods.

We all remember how fear became a daily companion. We all remember parents praying for their children's safety on the simplest errands."

He recalled the region’s recent history of insecurity and economic disruption, including shuttered businesses and communities living in fear, appealing that lessons learnt should guide public discourse, rather than social media sentiment.

"What the South East needs is not appeasement. What the South East needs is investment. Our leaders should shift the conversation from political theatrics to measurable progress and development.

The crisis that shook the South East did not begin in a courtroom, and it will not end in a courtroom,” Okoye said.

He stressed that the region’s real challenge is underdevelopment, noting that lasting solutions lie in infrastructure, industrial parks, youth skills programmes, improved security, and coordinated state-federal development efforts.

Okoye further emphasized that President Bola Tinubu’s obligations to the South East are not symbolic gestures, but a delivery on the commitments of the Renewed Hope Agenda, including job creation, industrialization, and agricultural modernization.

He maintained that while relative peace has returned, the region must now translate stability into tangible growth.