A senator and former governor of Abia State, Orji Uzor Kalu, said he met with the IPOB leader, Nnamdi Kanu, in detention on Monday and advised him to consider the consequences of his actions.
He said that what Nigeria needs most is a peaceful and secured society.
The IPOB leader is detained by the State Security Service in Abuja where he is standing trial for alleged treason.
“This afternoon, I visited my brother, Maazi Nnamdi Kanu in DSS custody, Abuja. I met him in good health and care and we discussed as ‘Umunne’,” Mr Kalu said in a statement he posted on his Facebook page on Monday.
Kalu said: “I understand that Nnamdi has an insane amount of people rooting for his back home and I encouraged him to consider the consequences of certain actions and utterances for the sake of the same people.”
The senator representing Abia State, said he has had a close relationship with the family of the IPOB leader.
“In 2001 when I was Governor, I made his father, Eze Israel Okwu Kanu, traditional ruler of Afara Ukwu and since then the family has been very close to me,” he said.
The senator said Mr Kanu is his “brother” and that “we can’t run away from each other”, even though both of them have different ideologies.
“I owe him and Nigerians good counselling. Whether he and his family listen to me or not, I will continue counselling him as I have always done in the past,” he said.
The agitation for an independent republic, Biafra, which is being championed by IPOB, has led to several killings and destruction in Nigeria’s South-east.
Two police officers, for instance, were shot dead in Anambra State on Thursday and their bodies burnt by armed men suspected to be members of IPOB.
There has been pressure on President Muhammadu Buhari to release Kanu and hold talks with IPOB as a solution to the instability in the South-east.
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