The ongoing trial and detention of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu continues to generate huge surge and wide public engagements in recent days, with many identifying with the call for his release.
This recent consciousness can be traced to the dogged Human Rights Activist, Omoyele Sowore who rekindled the agitative fire to see to the liberation of the man who once championed a movement for a separate state for ethnic Igbos in southeast Nigeria.
The government handling of Nmamdi Kanu’s case echoes the experiences of people like Sunday Igboho, who courageously advocated for what he believed in, even though his spirit was eventually broken by the state machinery that persecuted him to surrendering his conviction.
Nnamdi Kanu was arrested in 2021 after he was first charged with terrorism and treasonable felony in 2015 and was granted bail.
His re-arrest was later executed in Kenya and since then, he has been in the custody of the state, facing legal battles and fireworks in the court. Within those years, a judgement was given by the Court of Appeal for him to be released.
Particularly, the court rebuked his extraordinary rendition from Kenya as being unlawful, but this judgment was quashed by the Supreme Court, thereby allowing the trial to continue.
What the current situation of Nnamdi Kanu has taught us is that the government has become really intolerant and unforgiving towards dissenting voices of the people.
That people are kept in denial and intimidated from pursuing their conviction does not mean the state has succeeded in encouraging peace. True peaceful coexistence is not anchored on the strength of suppression, hidden grudges and victimization, but on justice and good conscience. I think it is okay if not everyone aligns with the style and ideological mantra with which Nnamdu Kanu deployed to pursue his agitation for the liberation of his people, but what can not be denied is the fact that he was overburdened with strong desire to see his people being reckoned with and taken seriously, in matters of national concern. We can not pretend to no longer be in-tune with the history of Civil War of 1967.
Beyond any tribal sentiments and bigotry indictments, we can not afford to turn a blind eye on the place of humanity. What we have in our hands is a ceaseless incarceration of a fellow citizen who only became very particular about good governance due to a perceived neglect. There’s no justification for the prolonged detention of Nnamdi Kanu when he hasn’t been declared guilty by any court, and to support his detention due to ethnic leaning is petty and unwarranted. I learnt from the courageous Human Right Lawyer, Inibehe Effiong that If you are emotionally attached to your tribe, religion, or political leaning to the point that truth and justice become secondary considerations, then your education is useless, If you cannot reason beyond petty sentiments, you are a liability to mankind.
The recent presidential pardon issued to over 170 inmates, including a convicted murderer, kidnapper and other people convicted for various heinous crimes, underscores the need for equal application of justice. If the government can throw a convicted murderer to be re-integrated into the society, why holding unto Nnamdi Kanu who has not been convicted for any crime in Nigeria. Maybe what is good for the goose is no longer good for gander, since it has become a norm to be applying different standards for different people.
The government should prioritize peaceful dialogue and listen to the yearnings of its citizens. Keeping Nnamdi Kanu in detention has never be and will never be a solution to a problem that be best solved by simply calling for a dialogue. Prolonged detention and litigation will only exacerbate tensions. The government should do the needful, by withdrawing the charges against Nnamdi Kanu, and put an end to this long overdue witch-hunting. Dialogue and not detention is the pathway for peace.
Semiloore Akinsulure, is a Writer, and a Media Personality.
semiloreakinsulure@gmail.com
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