By: Chibike Nkemeakolam
It saddened my mind on hearing the Nigerian military siege on Nnamdi Kanu’s house at his country home, Afara Ibeku, Umuahia, Abia state, Nigeria.
Nnamdi Kanu is one of the most popular and the most discussed persons in Nigeria today; more popular than our so-called politicians that have none of our interests in mind. Thanks to the present government that gave him much more attention than he would not have asked for or desired to get.
His crusade for Biafran secession from Nigeria brought fame to him; while his unlawful incarceration gave him a much wider popularity within and outside the country.
Prior to his detention, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu was only heard on a radio station that its frequency could hardly be ascertained. His advocacy on Biafran secession was borne out of the practical reality that, Nigeria as an entity is hijacked, controlled, dominated and influenced by a regional/tribal and religious group, thus living other groups, regions, tribes, religious groups that form the country called Nigeria in marginalised and subservient paradigm.
When Mazi Nnamdi Kanu set his foot in Nigeria from his base in London, United Kingdom, where he remains a citizen of the Kingdom till date, he was arrested and detained forthwith. Though he knew about that before arriving at the Nigerian airport, hence he chose to be on the ground for his dream fight of liberation.
Mazi Kanu’s arrest caused uproar within and outside Nigeria. People that openly threw their weights on him were either maimed, abused, humiliated, unlawfully detained, tortured or killed.
His unlawful detention with other co-defendants of Biafran agitation led to the clamours and incessant appeals for their release. The outcry for his illegal confinement compelled the judicial arm of the Nigeria government to grant Mazi Kanu strict conditional bail that violates certain rights of his.
As a man that knows his rights and a course he is fighting for, he boldly and unashamedly failed some of his bail conditions that some legal luminaries, human rights activists, and his loyalists criticised to be utterly inhumane and slave-like.
When Kanu resorted on going for rallies in some cities and states in the South-East and South-South zones of the country, it became aberrations to his plaintiffs. His followers grew day by day, his loyalists never hidden their supports for him. He becomes more famous than the Nigerian authorities never wished he could be. To me, his popularity was based on his eloquent and truthful speeches on what transpires in Nigeria as a country. His steadfastness for his freedom fighting; fearlessness and outspokenness; unequivocal love for his people; incorruptibility; his influence on people; command of respect made him a role model.
The aforementioned attributes of Mazi Kanu become worrisome to the government. To some people, it was hateful, incitable, unpatriotic, insubordinate for Mazi Kanu to have failed certain conditions of his bail; whereas many are the opposite.
Yesterday, precisely on the 12/09/2017, Nigeria army under the command of the President was ordered to besiege Kanu’s house. The video clips of their incursion conspicuously went viral. They stationed their armoured tank around the house of Mazi Kanu. The office of the Nigerian Union of Journalist (NUJ) in Umuahia was invaded at the process of the siege. People were reported to have been killed, injured or tortured in the process of confronting the Nigerian Army for their unlawful attempt in arresting Mazi Kanu.
Constitutionally, the military is charged for external and internal aggression within the country. Unleashing the military on Mazi Kanu, who neither has a weapon nor resisted an arrest warrant from a court or a constitutional authority is an imbroglio tantamount to despotic leadership in what suppose to be a democratic nation.
Yes, Kanu failed his bail conditions, but have you asked:
1. Has Kanu been summoned to appear in any court since his release?
2. Has he resisted an arrest warrant issued on him by the court or attempted to jump bail?
3. Has he gotten a forewarning from a constitutional authority that has a court order?
The answers to the questions remain ‘NO’.
Furtherance to the questions above are: why would Mazi Kanu, a harmless and armless civilian be targeted more than a terrorist organization in the Northern part of the country called Boko Haram? Why would Arewa youths and their sponsors be allowed to walk free in the bold of a quit notice given to all Igbo people living in the Northern Nigeria? Why can’t they channel all the strengths and resources marshal out against Mazi Kanu to the fight against terrorism or even on the fight against Nigerian corrupt office holder/politicians (both past and present)? It is too absurd for the Nigeria army to be ordered for such incursion in a house occupied by a man without a lethargic weapon.
It is a real pity for my country, Nigeria.
A country that has no direction.
A country that has the high rate of human right abuses.
A country that is immeasurably corrupt.
A country that glorifies corruptions to their own detriments
A country that is ethnically and religiously divided
A supposedly rich country, but impoverished by her leaders.
Truly! Truly! There was a country Nigeria!
