By Fredrick Nwabufo
I just watched a video of “Nnamdi Kanu in Israel”. And truly, it was him. In the video, he stands before the Wailing Wall, “wailing”; a voice in the background spits platitudes as the “supreme leader” prays. He then terminates his ritual and turns to the camera to affirm his “invincibility”.
Choreographic marvel!
But many young Igbo lives were lost because of Kanu. When he was incarcerated in Nigeria, young, impressionable men and women staked out relentless protests across the south-east for his sake. Some of them died in the struggle.
When Kanu effectuated an insurrection in Abia state after his release from prison, many young men paid with their lives – all for his “ego agitation”. Operation Python Dance was launched in the south-east because of him. No doubt, the operation led to the loss of some innocent lives and property.
But where was Kanu in all of these? He was in a safe place; totally unscathed.
Obviously, there is an umbilicus of cowardice connecting the late Emeka Ojukwu with Kanu.
Ojukwu started a war unprepared. Besides other genuine reasons for his action, ego took the better part of his thinking. More than a million Igbo sons and daughters died in the war; most of them of starvation. But Ojukwu and his family were not hungry. He fled the country with his family afterwards to Ivory Coast, far away from the death and destruction in the land he gambled to “liberate” from Nigeria.
I doubt if Ojukwu suffered any loss in the war.
Kanu has taken the same path. After many deaths resulting from his agitation, he flees to Israel. He is safe. And home and dry.
“Aspiring” revolutionaries or liberators must be sincere to their struggle. They must be ready to go the whole hog. Che Guevara died in the struggle to free Bolivia from anti-progressive forces. He had teamed up with Fidel Castro to oust the corrupt government of Fulgencio Batista before the Bolivian quest. But even after breasting victory in Cuba, he was not sated. He dreamt of liberating all of South-America from capitalist vultures. However, he died in the pursuit of that “glory”.
There is just something revolting about people who lead other people to battle only to flee to safety in the heat of it.
And by the way, why is Kanu revealing himself now, a few months to the general election?
I do not know though. But I am suspicious of that bolt out of the blue.
Fredrick is a media personality.
He can be reached on Facebook: Fredrick Nwabufo; Twitter: @FredrickNwabufo
All Comments