If his Jewish priest or Dibia had told the leader of the Indigenous People Of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, a few weeks ago that by the end of June he will be cooling off in a Department Of State Services( DSS) facility, I am sure he would have rained invectives on them.
When I heard the minister of justice and attorney-general of the federation, Abubakar Malami, had announced the capture of Nnamdi Kanu, I thought it was fake news. Kanu arrested? The demigod and the clown-chief of the Republic; it must definitely be fake news. Then some minutes later, some major TV stations confirmed the news and started running the story.
Even at that, some people were still doubting the story. The government released pictures of Nnamdi Kanu wearing designers and handcuffs. Some clowns started saying the pictures must be photoshopped. Nnamdi Kanu cannot be arrested by the zoo Nigerian authorities.
Let’s go down memory lane. Prior to 2015, I don’t think I had ever heard of the name Nnamdi Kanu. He was an unknown rabble-rouser. However, the federal government brought him to the limelight by arresting him. I think arresting him was an own goal.
Advertisement
Personally, I think the government should have ignored him and by now, he would have fizzled out. The government made him a celebrity overnight and gave him some god-like status among those who still believe in the Biafra dream.
Pointedly, they are many people in the south-east who dream of a Biafra but don’t support Nnamdi Kanu’s methods in achieving that dream. But when he was arrested, he gained more sympathisers, it became a “we versus us”. thing.
He was granted bail as a political solution to bring down the thermometer in the south-east. However, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu flouted all his bail conditions and he was doing it in your face kind of way to the federal government. His home in Abia became a Mecca of sorts.
Advertisement
Subsequently, he jumped bail and was quiet for months. Then he suddenly appeared from his sabbatical and resumed his inciting and hate-filled messages against the Nigerian state.
Sadly also, policemen and formations became a target in the south-east. The era of unknown gunmen in the south-east started. Not less than 30 policemen have been killed in the south-east recently.
I also see it as asinine arguments that why did the government arrest Nnamdi Kanu while we have scores of bandits roaming the streets. I think this line of argument is totally unfair to our brave armed forces who have been battling with insurgents and bandits. You don’t expect them to end or arrest all sponsors of bandits and insurgents in one day.
Granted, they are bad elements among them colluding with the bandits but the whole institution of the military should not be tarred with the same brush. If not for the exploits of the military in the north-east, maybe by now we would have lost the region and be paying homage now to Abubakar Shekau’s caliphate.
Advertisement
I think the trial of Nnamdi Kanu should be followed to its logical conclusion. The government should do all within its powers not to allow anything to happen to Kanu while in custody. Nigeria is yet to recover from the killing of Boko Haram leader, Mohammed Yusuf.
Similarly, other troublemakers across the country should be picked by the security agencies. All legitimate aspirations or agitations should follow the rule of law. Violent agitations should be discouraged by all well-meaning Nigerians.
Jonathan Nda-Isaiah, political director at LEADERSHIP Newspapers, can be reached via 08061573299, 08054518774.
Advertisement
Views expressed by contributors are strictly personal and not of TheCable.
1 comments
Writer, the point you made about “genuine aspirations” having to be made according to the rule of law demonstrates precisely why people who are disenchanted with the system resort to extreme violent means. For example, in the case of Kanu, how was he supposed to pursue his goals in a lawful way?
Didn’t he start his agitation in a non-violent way, merely asking for a referendum? Was any heed paid by the system to him? Whereas Nigerian Constitution makes no provision for referenda , every other pathway —be it the courts or the National Assembly— was blocked. And even at that , did he not remain peaceful, despite the resort by the Nigerian police and the army to murdering his followers, sometimes in hundreds.
When the state decided they will have none of him again, they first arrested him and prosecuted him. Then he was let out on baill, only for the army to invade his house — and he ran away to save his life. About 28 of his members lost their lives that day, while his mother and father were to die later from the medical complications induced by that event. Around the same time , the state governor’s in the South East colluded with the defence headquarters and the judiciary to outlaw his organisation.
Years later , seeing the unwillingness of the Federal Government and the state governor’s on the east to protect his people from murderous herdsmen ,he formed a regional defence unit, the Eastern Security Network. Then , despite his denials that he was not behind the “unknown gunmen” , we are too eager to crucify him for the spate of violence in the East. While it is regrettable that many “innocent” servicemen had to die in the mayhem blamed to him , nobody thinks that the lives of hundreds of his IPOB followers mowed down by police and military bullets matter.
Herein lies the disconnect that fuels the fury and frustration of people like Kanu and their followers to take up arms against the state. It is obvious to these groups of people that the stakes are skewed against them and that there is no avenue for them or people of their kind to seek redress within the system.
Beginning from a national legislature, military, customs, police, etc. heavily tilted to the advantage of another section of the country, to the clear cases of bias by occupants of high public service, it appears to such folks that the only solution lies outside the solution. If you are in doubt about this reality note the following worrying facts. First, why did it have to take another terrorist group, ISWAP to demobilize Boko Haram’s leader, Shekau, despite the billions of dollars spent on counterinsurgency operations in the North? Well, didn’t President Bihari declare sometime in 2014 that an attack on Boko Haram is an attack on the North? If you can remember, by that there was a non-Northern Chief of Army Staff who took his job “serious” and went after the terrorists.
Again , why would IPOB qualify as terrorists and neither Miyetti Allah nor Fulani helmsmen do? Besides, why should the Federal Government invest so much energy in crushing IPOB and its leader while it treats the far more lethal “bandits” with kid gloves ? This government and its supporters seem too eager to negotiate with these criminals but are uncharacteristically brutal when handling IPOB members.
If you see reality from these prisms ,as Kanu and his followers do, you will undoubtably come to feel their frustrations and resort to extreme measures. Be that as it may, without addressing these issues, the perceived victory in the “capture” of Mr Kanu will turn out to be an worthless laurel at best. A stich in time saves nine!