Timeframe: 2024 – 2026 (proposed)
Location: Abuja, Enugu, Geneva
Key Actors: Nigerian Presidency, National Assembly,
USIP mediators, CLEEN Foundation, Nigerian Economic Summit Group
(NESG)
Epigraph:
“A durable settlement requires release, truth-telling, and
reconstruction.”
— CLEEN Foundation proposal to the National Assembly, 2023 [1].
The Camera Lens
Imagine a negotiation table in Abuja: representatives of IPOB, governors, traditional rulers, and federal officials, with mediators from ECOWAS and USIP. Beside the agenda lies a draft act granting Kanu conditional release, establishing a truth commission, and allocating ₦2 trillion for reconstruction. That roadmap remains hypothetical—but it is the only path that has worked elsewhere.
Conflict-resolution experts insist that releasing Kanu into a monitored dialogue process would defuse martyrdom and open space for compromise [2]. Detention sustains radical factions; engagement could isolate them.
CLEEN Foundation’s 2023 proposal outlines a hybrid truth commission covering both security-force abuses and IPOB excesses [1]. Without a shared narrative of harm, revenge cycles persist.
NESG’s “Rebuilding the East” blueprint calls for infrastructure investment, special economic zones, and youth employment to address structural grievances [3]. Money alone won’t solve political disputes, but poverty fuels recruitment for both state-backed militias and insurgents.
Healing demands more than verdicts and arrests. It requires political courage to release a contentious figure, honest reckoning with past crimes, and tangible investment in the future. Without a roadmap, Nigeria remains trapped in yesterday’s battles.