With TONY OKOROJI
Nnamdi Kanu
Mazi Nnamdi Okwu Kanu, leader of the ‘banned’ Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has become an authentic national and international superstar. Among millions of Nigerians, the word of Kanu, who is not known to have ever held any public office, is law. When he asks people from a part of Nigeria to sit at home and not go to work or school, the people obey.
In a large swath of the South-East of Nigeria, every Monday is a public holiday not enshrined in any law. Civil servants don’t go to work; market women don’t go to the market; students don’t go to school and courts, even Federal Courts do not sit. It is widely believed that this is what the clean-shaven man in a DSS cell in Abuja has ordered. And np government can order otherwise.
These days, when Kanu goes to court in Abuja, hundreds of security men are mounted on his route, the way they line the road in honour of a Head of State. On the record, the security men are stationed to prevent anarchy as Kanu’s supporters and those suspected to have been recruited by the agents of the state, shout at each other, sing war songs, carry placards and demonstrate. I was at the Federal High Court, Abuja, last week for an entirely different matter. To get into the court was an experience. Why? Nnamdi Kanu was coming to court!
Who advised the government that putting Kanu permanently in jail would reduce his attraction and influence? I do not think that the person has quite studied history. The continued jailing of Nnamdi Kanu has made him a legitimate and admired activist and freedom fighter, now worshiped by a hoard of followers, locally and internationally.
Does anyone recall that the apartheid government in South Africa sought to silence Nelson Mandela by locking him up in several prisons including the infamous Robben Island, for treason? Unfortunately for them, every day of the 27 years Mandela spent in jail, he became a bigger world-wide personality. Mandela left jail to easily become President of a free South Africa and one of the most admired black men ever.
Have we forgotten that the government of General Sani Abacha jailed General Olusegun Obasanjo for treason? Obasanjo left jail to become an elected President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, serving two terms.
Around the world, there are numerous examples of citizens who have left jail to become leaders of their nations: Aung San Suu Kyi of Myanmar; Vaclav Havel of Czech Republic; Michelle Bachelet in Chile; Jawaharlal Nehru of India; Anwar Ibrahim in Malaysia, etc., etc.
There are others who have not held public office but have had to be immortalized by their nations because of the moral strength and direction they exuded and the price they have paid for their beliefs. Every year, the United States celebrates a public holiday marking the birthday of the late civil rights leader, Martin Luther King Jnr, who was assassinated in 1968. In Nigeria, June 12 has become a public holiday in honour of the late Moshood Kashimawo Abiola, the winner of the annulled June 12, 1993 elections, who died in captivity.
Let’s be honest, the Kanu imbroglio is not a legal battle. It is a political mind game. To many, Kanu is not a criminal but an activist leader in search of self- determination for his people. This week, the nature of the fight became clearer with Kanu declaring that he would no longer need the services of any lawyer and would henceforth represent himself. I do not see how the government can under the present circumstances win the ongoing battle of words and emotions with Nnamdi Kanu. I honestly do not see how any verdict in the Nnamdi Kanu trial will have any legitimacy.
Even the greatest scientists have yet to find a way to read what is in anyone’s heart or brain. We can only decipher intent from the actions we see. The President’s almost fanatical commitment to planting ‘his people’ in every critical position of authority has done incredible damage to his trustworthiness as an even handed and fair-minded leader. It has given great credibility to Kanu’s Zoo theory of Nigeria.
There are many intelligent people who will tell you that but for the constitutional provision requiring every state in Nigeria to produce a minister, there might be no minister of Igbo heritage in Tinubu’s cabinet. Please argue with them as much as you can and they will tell you that Tinubu has an agenda different from the “One Nigeria” agenda. Ask for evidence and you will be asked if you are crazy. “Action speaks louder than words”, you will be told.
It is the actions that speak louder than words that have made a previously unknown Mazi Nnamdi Okwu Kanu an international super-duper star!
See you next week.
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