The hearts of many a Nigerian walked right into the cold Sokoto cell with Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) when he was sentenced to life in prison by an Abuja High Court, Thursday, November 20, on charges of terrorism and transported immediately to the end of the North.
As novel as the charges against Kanu were to the statute books of Nigeria, the entire trial ridiculed the Nigerian Judiciary before the right thinking members of the international community. The judgement roundly got a thumbs-down in the United States of America Congress as they sat over Nigeria, which is to them a country of particular concern (CPC).
Reading his judgement, Justice James Omotosho acknowledged the illegality of the extraordinary rendition of Kanu from Kenya to Nigeria, but stated that it did not rob the court of jurisdiction to hear the matter. The common parlance in law says, ex turpi causa non oritur action, meaning no action can arise from an illegal transaction.
Clearly, the honourable justice knows this. What is unclear is why he went ahead to hear the case and deliver judgement, in addition to the fact that there was no defence entered on behalf of the accused person. Now, I see a court that depends on mere stories and lack of substantial and tangible evidence to convict one standing trial. Now, I know that mere utterances stand as evidence in a case of terrorism.
A closer look at the Biafra struggle can reveal that a plethora of organisations are pressing for the actualisation of the state of Biafra out of a Nigeria that has caused them more pain than pleasure in half a century. IPOB is just one of these organisations having different methods of pursuing their case. Yet, a good number of them are simply criminals hiding under the struggle to carry out their nefarious activities.
But, both violent and non-violent actions had been blamed on IPOB. That’s totally unfair to an organisation with a leader that professes non-violence. It speaks of incompetence on the part of government security agencies who fail to understand the differences. The Eastern Security Network, (ESN), true to its name, arose to protect the people of the east denied adequate security against the herdsmen onslaught.
From the thick cloud of ethnic sentiments that has engulfed the nation arises a supposition that the judgement was predetermined and tailor made to spite Ndigbo. Kanu stood like a cockroach standing trial before some ferocious chickens that hadn’t had a meal in a day. The arrogance of power was heavy.
Why was it difficult for the President to bend over backwards to hear pleas or consider the entreaties of a series of emissaries to him looking for a political solution to the problem of Nnamdi Kanu? For years, the Muhammadu Buhari administration held unto the case but amazingly refused to jail him. Perhaps, the prosecutors under this administration were more competent than those that worked on it during the Buhari administration?
The many policies Buhari pursed with vigour, such as the RUGA settlements and water resources bill, portrayed him as one who came to power armed with an agenda to cede the land to the Fulani. His interest, supposedly, was to hold on to Kanu until he succeeded. The present administration which is highly mercantile has a demonic urge to put away impediments to its access to petroleum resources and taxes on already famished people.
No matter how the Nigerian state under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu tries to bend the case to look like a criminal case, the world knows that Kanu is a political prisoner, taking after the late Dr. Nelson Mandela of South Africa, who fought fiercely for the emancipation of the black people from the evil apartheid policy of a white minority rule. The similarities abound.
Apartheid was an institutionalised racial segregation and discrimination against black people in South Africa between 1948 and 1994 which subjugated the blacks and relegated them to second-class citizens in their country. It was unlawful for them to aspire to positions of authority. It is in no way different from what the Igbo people and the minorities are suffering today in Nigeria, save that this time it is black on black suppression rather than white on black.
If you are in doubt, check the Tinubu cabinet. It is such attitudes against these easterners that fuelled agitation for Biafra, the very reason for Kanu’s continuous incarceration. Forget talks of terrorism until we find out why those who have done things worse than the charges against Kanu are not suffering the same fate with him.
In any case, we should not weep for Kanu but for Nigeria which has so far travelled the wrong route in history as a nation and has continued to suffer resource curse despite that it possesses resources in large proportions. However, everything has an expiry date. Apartheid grew its teeth in 1948 but expired in 1994. Welcome, the made-in-Nigeria Mandela, jailed while fighting for his people. Someday, you are gonna be free, as Mandela, and walk into the warm embrace of those who stood by you.
Dr. Odu can be reached through [email protected] or SMS +2347064052031.
