Mbazulike Amaechi worked for peace, so sad it didn't come in his time



“Mr President, I want you to be remembered as a person who saw Nigeria burning, and you quenched the fire.”


Those were the exact words of Chief Mbazulike Amaechi during the visit of select elderstatesmen of Igbo extraction to President Muhammadu Buhari in November, 2021. The visit was to dialogue with the president and impress it on him to consider a political solution to the case of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu and the insecurity in the southeast. 


For some reason that counsel was not heeded. Nigeria's ruling class instead continued to concoct what they said will be a medicine for madness with alligator pepper.


It must have broken Amaechi's heart to continue getting the depressing news that come out of Nigeria daily, including the commercialisation of violence in the southeast. It must have broken his heart that his efforts at peace were sabotaged.


He was to grant a press interview on the matter in July 2022.


“On the 18th of November 2021, at the age of 93, I traveled to Abuja with some other Igbo leaders and a Bishop relation of Mazi Kanu to plead with the President to release Nnamdi Kanu to me and to commence dialogue to find a solution to the problem.


“The President carefully listened to me, put aside a reply which they had written for him, and spoke his mind to me. He assured me and I verily believed him that he would look into the matter, for my sake. The Presidency arranged for me to visit Nnamdi Kanu in detention and get some assurances from him. This I did in the company of Nnamdi’s relation, Bishop Onuoha and his lawyer.


”We reached an agreement with Nnamdi Kanu which could have gladdened the hearts of the government and Ndigbo and on the 6th of December 2021, I forwarded a copy to the President by DHL Mail with proof of delivery. That was the last the Presidency communicated with me but I doubt if they allowed the President to see a copy of the mail I forwarded to him. I seriously doubt if they allowed him to see it.


“Sometime last year, the Chairman of South East Governors Forum, telephoned me and told me that he visited the President and asked him about my case and the President told him that the ball was at my feet (Mbazuliki Amechi’s feet). The Governor told me he had arranged a meeting with the Attorney-General of the Federation, myself, himself and Nnamdi’s lawyer. At my age, I took the trouble and pains to travel to Abuja. The Governor was a day late and after dribbling me and the lawyer, he told us that the Attorney-General had traveled and requested me to wait till next week. I had to return home after wasting three days with my aides in a hotel.


”As for the insecurity in the southeast, the solution is simple if only the authorities and those who benefit from the situation will listen. You do not catch a fly with vinegar, you catch a fly with honey or something good and edible. You can never win peace with the gun, you gain peace by dialogue, understanding, give and take.”


Mbazulike Amaechi, according to a press statement from his family, has joined his ancestors. He didn’t live to see the version of Nigeria he worked so hard for. But the seeds have been sown: Africa's morning will come.


Chima Christian

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