By OKEY MADUFORO, Awka

The Igbo Community in Abuja FCT (ICA FCT) has expressed apprehension over the likely ripple effects Thursday’s life imprisonment handed to Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), by Justice James Omotosho of the Federal High Court Abuja, on the security of the South East geopolitical zone.

“The fears are that instead of the Federal High Court Abuja to set Kanu free to tame the six years of insecurity in the area, it has gone to deepen the already precarious situation making it impossible for insurgency to continue in the area,” a statement by ICA FCT President-General, Engr Ikenna-Ellis Ezenekwe, said.

It said that the Community is watching closely the fate of Nnamdi Kanu since after the judgment, noting that the powers that be would be held accountable for the effects of the court ruling on the zone.

The statement reads in part: "The Igbo Community within the Federal Capital Territory is watching the developments around Mazi Nnamdi Kanu with keen interest. What occurred yesterday was injustice against a marginalized people.

"The judgement of November 20, 2025 smacks of judicial recklessness laced with the worst type of bigotry. The type that threatened to end the existence of Nigeria during the period leading up to the pogrom of 1966.

"The Igbo Community Association FCT [ICA FCT] is concerned over what the resultant effects of this judgement would have in the South East and other regions in Nigeria.

“The Community salutes the 44 National Assembly members who had so far made case before President Ahmed Bola Tinubu for the matter be resolved politically.

"With a very saddened heart, the ICA FCT calls on the Tinubu administration to listen to the voice of the people"

"To the voices of Forty four legislators of the National Assembly who joined the call for President Tinubu to seek a political solution to the Nnamdi Kanu impasse.

"ICA FCT is advising President Tinubu to seize this opportunity and grant Nnamdi Kanu freedom. It would be the wise approach to this situation," the statement said.