Human rights activist and former presidential candidate of African Action Congress, AAC, Mr Omoyele Sowore, has declared that equality, fairness and justice are panacea for national unity

Sowore said the country cannot continue to pretend to be one nation while some citizens are treated as second-class.

Speaking in Akure, the Ondo State capital, he said: “No nation built on oppression and inequality can genuinely claim to be united, condemning what he described as “systemic hypocrisy” in Nigeria’s treatment of ethnic groups.

He said “We cannot have unity without justice, We cannot say we need unity when some people are treated as superior and others as inferior. We cannot have unity in a country where someone’s business is demolished simply because the government dislikes his ethnicity.

“We cannot have unity in a country where terrorists are treated better than freedom fighters. I am talking directly about Mazi Nnamdi Kanu and others who struggle for the freedom of their people.

“There is no crime in demanding justice or self-determination. Nigeria was not created by Nigerians, but by the British. So, if we must continue as one nation, we must respect everyone who calls himself a Nigerian.”

On the release of the detained leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPoB, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, he faulted the Federal Government for detaining him for over five years without a clear definition of his alleged crimes.

Sowore said: “We cannot keep a man in prison using legal technicalities to justify injustice. What is his crime? For five years, nobody can define it. That is why I have been at the ”orefront of the Free Nnamdi Kanu Movement.

“I’m not doing it for politics. In fact, if I wanted to play politics, I wouldn’t be defending someone many in power consider an enemy. But I am not that kind of politician. I stand for justice, truth, and fairness.”

The activist also criticized Nigeria’s political class for ignoring the cries of the masses until foreign powers begin to embarrass them on the global stage. (Sunday Vanguard)