Francis Anekwe Oborji’s article argues that the continued detention of Nnamdi Kanu symbolizes the systemic oppression and political marginalisation of the Igbo people in Nigeria. He asserts that Kanu’s release will not be determined by Nigerian courts but by the collective and determined efforts of his supporters through civil disobedience and political pressure.
As one author put it:
“It is the Islamic agenda being pursued by the North and Fulani herdsmen terrorism, and not the agitation for Biafra, that put the death nail on Nigeria.”
Accept or deny it, the release of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, the detained leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, is the greatest challenge facing Ndigbo today in the entity called Nigeria. As long as MNK is still being held by the Nigerian State in the ‘dungeon’ of Nigeria’s secret police, the DSS, or whatever, the entire Igbo nation and people are in detention! As long as Nnamdi Kanu is still being detained by the Nigerian State in the DSS dungeon because of his refusal to compromise and give up his agitation for the self-determination and self-defense of his people of Eastern Nigeria, no Igbo person should be proud to parade himself or herself as ‘somebody’ of any significance or importance in Nigeria today!
The fact is that the present Nigerian government and the corrupt politicians are using the continued illegal detention of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, as a metaphor for the continued humiliation, persecution and strangulation of Ndigbo as a people and ethnic-nationality in Nigeria today. Therefore, let nobody from Igboland and the rest of the Eastern region delude him/herself. To think that because of his or her political position or office in Nigeria, he or she is not sharing in that collective humiliation and shame of Igbo people brought about by this continued detention of MNK by the present federal government of Nigeria and their collaborators from the Southeast and cronies. The irony of history is that the oppressor uses some individuals from among the oppressed people to continue to keep the oppressed in humiliating conditions and servitude. Without the collaboration of the few Igbo politicians, the self-serving Southeast governors, lawmakers, prominent religious, traditional and cultural organizations rulers, business tycoons, and elites who are serving as spin-offs and enablers of the oppression of Ndigbo in Nigeria today, the oppressors would have never succeeded in Igboland the way they have succeeded presently. And this is the problem!
This is why we shall continue to emphasize, that the release of MNK will not depend on the Nigerian Court ruling. As the last Federal Appeal Court ruling in Abuja that discharged him on October 13, 2022, has shown. Because after that Federal Appeal Court Abuja ruling of October 13, 2022, what did the powers that be do? Did they release him? Of course, no. Because since then, the same Nigerian government whose Federal Appeal Court’s ruling discharged Nnamdi Kanu and orders that he be released, had since then refused to obey its own court order, and has up till today be going front-and-back, refusing to release the IPOB leader.
Therefore, the freedom and release of MNK, will not depend on the rulings of the Nigerian courts. As I wrote elsewhere, ‘it is not the Court of the same Nigerian Government that went to a foreign country, Kenya, abducted Nnamdi Kanu, extraordinarily rendition him, and forcefully brought him back to Nigeria, and has since June 2021, kept him in the torture cell of Nigeria’s secret police, DSS in Abuja, in solitary confinement, incommunicado, that is going to free him?’ Rather, Nnamdi Kanu is going to be freed, just as Biafra he is fighting for its self-determination and independence, is going to be a free sovereign nation-state on its own rights, only through the determined collective and conceited, concrete efforts of the Biafran people themselves, Nnamdi Kanu’s kinsmen and women, Ndigbo in particular, to be precise. That is, as a people, and as a Nation in its own right, standing solidly, firmly and determined, behind Nnamdi Kanu and his struggle. And behind whoever has genuinely taken it upon him/herself to stand in the gap in the Biafra struggle, especially, now that the IPOB leader is languishing in the dungeon of the enemy. (And most recently, his most vocal supporter, a frontline Biafra agitator, Mazi Simon Ekpa is also been detained by Finland local authorities at the instigation of the Nigerian government, for the same reasons Nnamdi Kanu has been detained in Nigeria).
Simon Ekpa is detained today in Finland at the instigation of the Nigerian government, simply because of his agitation for Biafra and for standing up for Nnamdi Kanu. If Simon Ekpa has not stood up to fill the gap for Biafra agitation and demand for the release of Nnamdi Kanu, immediately Nnamdi Kanu was extraordinarily rendition and detained by the Nigerian government, he would have been a free man in Finland today. Therefore, Simon Ekpa is where he is today, detained by the Finland authorities at the behest of the Nigerian government, simply because he was doing exactly the same thing Nnamdi Kanu did. He was agitating for Biafra and demanding for the immediate and unconditional release of Nnamdi Kanu by the Nigerian government. This is the offence of Simon Ekpa. The same offence for which Nnamdi Kanu is detained by the Nigerian government. The agitation for Biafra Self-Determination and Independence.
In other words, the freedom of Nnamdi Kanu will not come from the Nigeria Court’s ruling. Rather, it will depend largely on what is happening on the ground in Igboland. That is, on the intensity and “aggressiveness” of the civil disobedience protests (e.g., the Monday Weekly Sit-At-Home Civil-Disobedience Protest in the Southeast), on the ground in Igboland, ignited for that purpose by Kanu’s Igbo and Biafra people, for his immediate and unconditional release. Nnamdi Kanu’s release will come about through the collective efforts and coordinated ACTIONS of MNK’s own kinsmen and women, Ndigbo, and other Biafrans, and conscientious individuals, that really love him, and who sincerely and truly, want him released, seek the freedom and self-determination of Ndigbo and Biafrans in general.
Only such collective, selfless efforts, steadfastness, sincerity, consistency, and unity of purpose of Ndigbo as a people that is going to ‘Free and Release’ Nnamdi Kanu from the dungeon of the Nigerian Government. And only such can lead to the eventual coming of Biafra in our lifetime. And this is what Nnamdi Kanu, for those who really know him, stood for and has put his life on the line, for the freedom, justice, and welfare of his people as well as for that of the other trapped and endangered indigenous ethnic groups and marginalized people in Nigeria! Unity of purpose, selfless efforts, sincerity, honesty, steadfastness, consistency and collective determination of Ndigbo in particular, in the pursuit of the same goal of freedom for the attainment of their own self-rule as an independent sovereign nation state of Biafra – the same goal for which Nnamdi Kanu is languishing today in the dungeon of the enemy, is what will force the powers that be, to release him forthwith. It is also what will make them begin to initiate a true and sincere, constructive process of dialogue for the coming of Biafra, and to accord the Igbo man or woman the respect due to them as a people, in Nigeria and beyond!
It is fruitless for Igbo politicians and other members of the ruling class and elites in Igboland and Diasporas, to continue to think that it is by fighting to be relevant in Nigeria, seeking for the so-called elected political posts, or them pushing for more political appointments, or for an Igbo man or woman to be made President, or to become Vice-President of Nigeria, President of the Senate, or Speaker of the House of Representatives, federal minister, etc., is what Ndigbo needs today in Nigeria! Neither is it what they as a people need to be relevant and reclaim their self-esteem, wounded humanity and dignity. It is also not by the Igbo Politicians themselves, embarrassing themselves continuously, dancing naked in the marketplace in Nigeria’s political scene, fighting or agitating shamelessly, each time, during and after every general election in Nigeria, asking for Ndigbo to be accepted by other Nigerians of other ethnic groups, or to be integrated into the so-called mainstream of Nigerian society and Nigeria’s governmental structure, etc., is what Ndigbo and other Easterners want today, in this 21st century as a people.
To think in that way, is indeed very unfortunate. It is like those individuals from Igboland who parade themselves today in Nigeria, as Igbo leaders and politicians, while in actual fact, they are political jobbers, embarrassment, and enablers of the subjugation of their own people by the oppressor. Those who still think that is through fighting for political posts or appointments in government offices of the Nigerian state, that Ndigbo as a people will advance and become something in the world, are deluding themselves. Such individuals do not know what really is at stake, or rather, they don’t want to tell themselves the naked truth. Because, all that means, is that Ndigbo have not learned any lessons from their past history and experience as a people in Nigeria. That they have not learned anything from all that they have passed through and are still passing through as a people and as individuals, all these while in the Nigerian State. And this is the problem.
The Way-Out
What Ndigbo need now is ‘ACTION’, concrete, collective action, to be put on the ground in Igboland and in Diasporas, towards their emancipation as a people. That is, towards their attainment of self-defense and self-rule away from the Nigerian State! It is a collective and aggressive, well-coordinated ACTION towards these two noble goals that will propel the gatekeepers of the Nigerian State, to obey their own Court Orders and RELEASE MNK unconditionally with immediate effect. The Collective Action of Ndigbo and the entire Biafran People, who truly, love Nnamdi Kanu and want him released with immediate effect, is what is needed now.
The release of Nnamdi Kanu will signal the freedom of his people, the advent of their collective aspiration as a people. In other words, if you continue to depend on what the Nigerian Court is doing or telling you, they are not going to Release MNK in the nearest future. So, the earlier the Ndigbo and other Easterners, Biafran people, and all lovers of MNK and freedom of the Biafra, begin to intensify the pressure, and re-activate more stringent measures of ‘Civil Disobedience’ against the Nigerian State; put more pressures on all those self-serving, corrupt Southeast governors and other members of the ruling class from Igboland, all of them that participated in betraying and in the selling of MNK to the enemy, the better for us all.
Otherwise, those people holding MNK are not dreaming of letting him go tomorrow! That is, unless something extraordinary happens. Just as they used an ‘Extraordinary’ means of EXTRAORDINARY RENDITION & KIDNAPPING in a foreign land, to forcefully, bring him back to Nigeria! Unless something extraordinary that checks the existing faulty foundation of the Nigerian State, and its fraudulent and shambolic political system or structure, is ignited and challenged, those people holding MNK are not in any way thinking of releasing him soon! The Nigerian government that has refused time without number, to obey the previous ‘Judgements and Rulings’ of its own competent Courts, which discharged MNK, how do you think that even if the same Courts deliver a judgment today that orders for the RELEASE of MNK, a second time, third, fourth, or even fifth times, etc., that the same Nigerian Government holding the IPOB leader in solitary confinement, is going to obey it and release him? Impossibile est.
It is needless to hope that the court of the same Nigerian Government that kidnapped, extraordinarily rendition him, and has continued to keep him in detention illegally for over four years (since June 2021 to date), a second time after their first incarceration of the IPOB leader (for two years, between 2015 and 2017), will easily agree to release him today without serious pressures coming from MNK’s Igbo and Biafran people? The freedom of MNK is in the hands of his people of Southeastern Nigeria. After, he was betrayed and handed over to the hands of the enemy by the self-serving, corrupt Southeast governors, some elites and other corrupt members of the ruling class from the same region, in June 2021, don’t think that these his tormentors are in a hurry to let him go home to his family and people!
Know you therefore, that those who are behind his ordeal, all those who contributed in one way or the other in betraying him and in handing him over to the Jihadist-driven federal government of Nigeria, the same people are responsible for his continued incarceration in the DSS dungeon. They are not in a hurry to see him released. Period!
Again! Mind you: What we have in Nigeria today and call ‘Federal Government of Nigeria’, if truth be told, is a ‘Jihadist-driven’ government, terrorizing its own supposedly citizens, using both state and non-state actors, military and police operatives and the terrorist herdsmen and other Islamists terror groups operating from Northern Nigeria Sharia States and the Sahel region. This ugly phenomenon started to manifest itself openly and arrogantly since May 2015, when former President Muhammadu Buhari (a former military dictator), came to power under the APC mantra. The present Tinubu-Shettima Muslim-Muslim ticket Presidency that succeeded the Buhari regime today, is a continuation of the same old policy of the government of former President Buhari. That is why those in the corridors of power in Nigeria, could go to that extent of travelling to another country, in East Africa, Kenya, to abduct MNK, whose only offence is because he was agitating, peacefully, with Biafra flags and solidarity songs, asking that Referendum for Self-Determination for the independence of the sovereign state of Biafra, be granted to his people in Eastern Nigeria!
Self-determination just like Self-defense and Referendum for that purpose, are all protected by both the International and Municipal Laws, including, the United Nations’ Conventions and African Union’s Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights! Therefore, Nnamdi Kanu has not committed any crime known to law by agitating for Biafra. Why then should the Nigerian government go to that extent of kidnapping and extraordinarily rendition of someone who is running away to save his life from such a Government? Why is the Nigerian government going after Nnamdi Kanu and not after the Miyetti Allah, sponsors of the dreaded marauding Fulani killer-herdsmen terrorists, bandits and kidnappers? Why is the Nigerian government still keeping Nnamdi Kanu in the DSS dungeon even when the Federal Appeal Court has ordered that he be released? And the same Nigerian Federal government is releasing everyday from prisons and detention centers, members of the dreaded Boko Haram, ISIS-ISWAP and other Islamist terrorists’ organizations operating from Northern Nigeria? The same Nigerian government that is keeping Nnamdi Kanu in detention for agitating for Biafra, is busy every day, re-integrating into the Nigerian military, police, DSS, and other security agencies, known terrorists, the so-called “repentant” Boko Haram insurgents, and allied Jihadists, terrorist organizations operating from the Northern Nigeria Sharia States?
Conclusion
All these tell you that the continued incarceration of Nnamdi Kanu by the Nigerian government (and by extension, of Simon Ekpa by the Finland local authorities at the behest of Nigerian government), has nothing to do with the so-called ‘treason felony’ or ‘terrorism’ charges, or anything of sort brought against him by the Nigerian government. Rather, it is simply, the same chronic Igbo hate and resentment in Nigeria – the ‘Igbo-phobia’, that the British implanted in the minds of most Nigerians of other ethnic nationalities against Ndigbo and against anything Igbo, that is at play here. It is a political tool meant to serve a particular purpose.
That particular purpose is the quest for power, for the domination of others by the most favored ethno-religious group/s, the Fulani-dominated Northern Nigeria Muslim Caliphate Oligarchs, and their collaborators, corrupt members of the ruling class recruited for the same purpose, from the other parts of the country, especially, their Muslim-cousins from the Southwest geopolitical zone. All of them collaborating with their unhappy desire, to work against anything that would make an Igbo or Ndigbo rise or become relevant in Nigeria again.
Chinua Achebe in his epic book, “The Trouble with Nigeria” (1983), spoke of the ‘toxic effect of this Igbo-hate on the Nigerian political climate. The renowned author and doyen of African Literature, said that in his own estimation, “Igbo hate and resentment, is one of the major reasons for Nigeria’s continued backwardness and underdevelopment.” In other words, by now, every relatively conscious Igbo person should have known that his future, the future of his family and people is not in Nigeria but in a liberated, and free Igboland. This is the naked truth, majority of Ndigbo are yet to tell themselves.
Fr. Francis Anekwe Oborji, a Roman Catholic Priest, is Professor Ordinarius of contextual theology at the Pontifical Urbaniana University, Rome. He can be reached by email HERE.
The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author.
