THERE WILL BE CONSEQUENCES IF ANYTHING HAPPENS TO NNAMDI KANU

BY JEFF ORJI

According to a popular author Pentti Linkola, “the difference between a terrorist and a freedom fighter is a matter of perspective. It all depends on the observer and the verdict of history.” Be that as it may, Nnamdi Okwu Kanu is a world acclaimed freedom fighter without compromise for the Igbos being one of the most popular and enlightened race in the world. Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of the Indigenous people of Biafra seeks the independent state called Biafra due to the sheer marginalization against the race. The problem of Nigeria and Biafra is as old as amalgamation of 1914 and as time goes on issues kept getting worse. It can be best captured in the words of another acclaimed literary scholar who said “You crushed us to build your monarchy on the backs of our blood and bone. Your mistake wasn’t keeping us alive. It was thinking we’d never fight back”

Politics of imbalance and to a very large extent poor Leadership in Nigeria at various levels of governance and administration especially under President Buhari has failed to address the nagging socio-political, economic inequality, allocation of the nation’s common wealth, rampant state of insecurity, rancor, fear, suspicion and feelings of agitation, exclusion and isolation within and among the various ethnic nationalities in Nigerian state. All these has resulted to underdevelopment, high level of poverty, inequality in resource sharing, tension, instability, insecurity and countless agitation for restructuring, fairness, justice and equity, and Biafra agitation is one of it. This has dominated the discourse in the Nigerian polity today.

Little wonder why Professor Chinua Achebe of the blessed memory postulated in his book-‘The trouble with Nigeria’ that the problem with Nigerian leaders and indeed the entire stakeholders is the unwillingness or inability of these leaders to rise to the responsibility and demands of doing what is right and what is required to pull the Nations out of the woods. Hence, “the lack of political will and leadership will have been the major challenge to the Nigerian project.

This ugly situation was what created the legend Nnamdi Kanu and I wish to use this opportunity to sound it like a cruz canon for those who cares to listen that Nnamdi Kanu is the symbol of a struggle and an ideology. He represents millions of South-Easterners all over the world, even though many of them disagree vehemently with his separatist agenda. Yes! We are very much aware that many Igbo people still believe in Nigeria project despite the current woes and this regime’s extreme nepotism which has virtually sidelined them.

As Nnamdi Kanu has been re-arrested illegally, we and the rest of world are watching and we know that he has proved himself a hero because his cause is absolutely justified. I hereby wish to applaud the Bishop of Methodist Church Nigeria, Onitsha Diocese, Rt Rev Biereonwu Livinus Onuagha for his recent truthful outburst stating that Mazi Kanu is an asset not only to Ndigbo, but to the entire Southern Nigeria, adding that any Igbo person openly criticizing him now that he is embattled, is a lost soul, bastard and naïve noting that he has no apology for using such words. “The handcuff in the hands of Mazi Kanu is a handcuff in the hands of all Igbos. In a country controlled by ethno-religious identities and political diversity, anyone throwing his own under the bus is making the biggest blunder one could think of.”

He further informed that Nnamdi Kanu is not the problem of Nigeria. “As long as the Northerners are still standing with Pantami, Gumi, Miyetti Allah and others, I would stand with Nnamdi Kanu. Those Igbo rejoicing are only but being ignorant of the handwriting on the wall. Let me refer them to the Scripture if they read the Bible. By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, and there we wept, when we remember Zion. There on the poplars we hung, we hung our harps; for the wicked carried us away in captivity, and required from us a song. How can we sing the Lord’s song in a strange land? ” (Psalm 137: 1-4.)” he concluded. I know that everyone is entitled to their opinion as I am entitled to mine. I applaud him loudly for saying it the way it is in most of our minds.

In another development, I raise my head dress for the REFLECTIONS on the man Nnamdi Kanu by our own CHIMAMANDA NGOZI ADICHIE. According to her it is beneath morality for a writer to choose to speak only when it favours him or her. To retreat to silence in order not to ‘taint’ reputation. To speak on this particular issue, of the man called Nnamdi Kanu, does not tribalize me or my works of literature. Especially as this remains an age-long fear of most writers; the fear of offending, a fear of stepping on toes, of banishment by a displeased societal sect, and even possible ostracism. I speak because the making of a villain or hero often depends on who tells the story. Representation matters, when perspective becomes the thin line between an activist or a terrorist”

She expressed her disappointment on the Igbos casting aspersions on their own since the arrest of the IPOD leader while citing cases of other tribes who will never jettison their own for any reason. She equally noted the sad statement on the 2nd of June 2021 by the President of the Federal Republic of against the Igbos via Twitter: “Those of us in the fields for 30 months, who went through the war, will treat them in the language they understand.” According to her, the threat from the house of the presidency stinks of beating a child and asking him not to cry noting, that no one in their right mind departs a good home, one that is working. “Shouldn’t the real question then be . . . why do these people so badly want to stay apart from the rest of the nation?” How can you demonize a people and call their outcry terrorism which is to say that their injustice becomes acceptable, their oppression becomes deserving” she asked and noted.

“Whether Nnamdi is a terrorist, depends on what you mean by a terrorist. Yesterday it was Sowore. Then the youths at the Lekki tollgate. Today Nnamdi. Or could it be that this country only understands you better when you act mad? On nitty-gritty, we might have become a nation that picks and chooses the brand of terrorists deserving of amnesty. Perhaps the class with guns and doing the most harm are more deserving on the VIP list. That is the only way the massacre of the armless IPOB youths can make sense” she concluded. My message for those castigating Nnamdi Kanu is that it is a known fact in the eye of the world that Biafra entirely populated by the Igbo people is a deprived region which was the site of a bloody civil war between 1967 and 1970. Let that sink in your head.

Why most Nigerians frown at the outrageous, nauseating and deplorable torture and inhuman treatment subjected to Nnamdi Kanu without any consequence by Kenyan government so many have equally noted that his arrest and extradition was very wrong. Federal Government of Nigeria must as a matter of urgency understand the handwriting on the wall courtesy of the level of concern that Nnamdi Kanu’s re-arrest has attracted globally. The Federal Government under Buhari must understand that there will be huge consequences if anything happens to the leader of IPOD. His fundamental human rights must be respected and they must ensure he is humanely treated in custody. Let them be guided by the provisions of Section 31 of the 1999 Constitution while his trial lasts because he is presumed innocent until proven guilty. The wide world waits on trial continuation on his case which was adjourned to July 26, 2021.

Be that as it may, the thought of the count charges leveled against him; treasonable felony, unlawful possession of firearms and management of an unlawful society, is most laughable when you wonder why the same federal government under president Buhari has been very incapacitated in the arrest of the real terrorists like Ahmed Gumi, Miyetti Allah, ISWAP/Boko haram terrorists responsible for over 32,000 deaths of innocent citizens and the destruction of North East of Nigeria. Buhari’s government has continued to pamper armed Fulani terrorists and kidnappers who are waging war against innocent school children of Northern Nigeria. Take it or leave it,  these agitations are well-grounded due to the systematic injustices against certain ethnic groups and economic injustices which have heightened through the jaundiced and bigoted policies of Buhari’s administration. Let this government go ahead to identify the sponsors of Boko Haram, bandits and armed herders who are responsible for over 90 per cent of our insecurity woes, especially in the North. If this was his template and strategy since the past six years, our country should have been freed from its security jeopardy.

Finally, I believe there are strong lessons to learn from the words of Rev Fr Ejike Mbaka recently;

“Arrest is not the solution. There is agitation in the land, let the leaders listen to their stubbornness or else one day they will collapse this country. It is not a matter of referendum, the Israelites did not do any referendum before they left the land of Egypt. Who is fooling who? You don’t call a bulldog a bad name to kill it. People have senses. This is not between power and money, there is still God. For my beloved Nigerians and children of God, as far as God is still alive, in spite of all these, there is still hope. Let them do their worst, God will do his best. They will do their worst against us, God will do his best”. I rest my case.