The appointment of Ambassador Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu as a federal minister is a political masterstroke. It is one appointment that is loaded with massive political capital for Tinubu. As widow of the Biafran warlord, Bianca represents a bold statement with huge connecting appeal. Late Ojukwu epitomized the “Igbo question” and the struggle for Ndigbo’s inclusion and survival in a united Nigeria. Thus, even in death, Ojukwu’s name engenders deep respect and evokes cult-like followership among Igbos of unmixed ancestry.
Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the proscribed secessionist group, Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB), strives to step into Ojukwu’s big shoes. Though his modus operandi might appear eccentric, the ideological bent remains consistent as those issues raised by Ojukwu, are still with us. Even those who feel insulted by Kanu’s disruptive mannerisms cannot in good conscience, deny his influence and centrality to the restoration of socio-economic stability back home. Nonetheless, Kanu has paid dearly for his conviction and outstanding courage.
As 2027 politics hots up, Kanu’s endless trial would be a campaign issue, because he is an embodiment of Igbo survivalist struggle. Already, some traducers of Tinubu’s government from northern Nigeria are now deploying it as a tool of blackmail. Indeed, there is no Igbo man today with organic support base like Kanu. President Tinubu should therefore not rely absolutely on gale of endorsements and colourful rallies with flowery words that are suffused with intent to outdo other power seekers. Those events may be good optics and also achieve penetrating mind games for the mobilizers, but when the chips are down, they could turn out a veiled deceit of applause without approval. After all, whether genuine or rented, a crowd is a crowd.
My position is strengthened by a recent historical fact. In the build-up to the 2015 presidential election, late Senator Ifeanyi Uba used the platform of Transformation Ambassadors of Nigeria (TAN) and traversed across the length and breadth of the country. He garnered 18 million signatories in support of Goodluck Jonathan. Typical of the mixed multitude that followed Jesus Christ everywhere he went, the surging crowd followed Ifeanyi Ubah, not for the love of Jonathan, but to line up their pockets. In the end, Jonathan lost to Buhari with about 2.7 million votes. Buhari polled 15.4 million votes, while Jonathan had 12.8 million votes. Interestingly, none of them got up to 18 million votes. So, where were the signatories?
The recent declaration of Kanu’s June 2021 rendition as illegal and unconstitutional by a High Court in Nairobi, Kenya, piles up more pressure on Nigeria’s judicial system. The judgment lends credence to the impunity and complicity by officers of both countries. In fact, Femi Adesina had noted that Buhari was kind enough to allow Kanu to return alive to the country to face trial. However, the legal theatrics around Kanu’s trial are dotted by insincerity and subterfuge. In October 2022, the Court of Appeal, Abuja, had ruled that Kanu’s extraordinary rendition to Nigeria was a gross violation of rendition treaty and a breach of his fundamental rights, and therefore, struck out the terrorism charges against him and ordered his release from DSS custody. Nigeria’s government refused to obey the judgment and instead, obtained a controversial stay of execution order, which according to Kanu’s lawyer, had never been granted before in Nigeria. His lawyer quipped thus, “It is an illegality that wound hunt Nigeria for as long as life endures. But then, it was granted because Nnamdi Kanu is of Igbo descendants and must suffer notwithstanding what the law says.”
The double standard of covertly assisting Sunday Igboho to run away to jurisdictions where he enjoys freedom is obvious. The lack of political will to track down and prosecute terrorists, who kill and sack communities with reckless abandon, is most unfortunate. However, Kanu is seen as endangered species because some super humans whom his agitations bruised their ego decided to keep him behind the bars illegally. He must be made to suffer in solitary confinement and tomorrow, you would tell youngsters of Igbo origin that they are not second-class citizens in Nigeria. As such, it took Kanu’s protest in an open court to remind the judicial authority that a judge who recuses herself in a case can no longer grant an enforceable order pertaining to the matter.
By August 9, the every Monday sit-at-home in the Southeast imposed by IPOB to lawfully press home the demand for the release and fair trial of Kanu would clock 4 years. All these years, trillions of naira and investments had been lost yet the country moves on as if nothing is happening in a region widely recognized as a hub of entrepreneurship. The loud silence of government sends a signal of insensitivity and height of neglect to a people. And it is this kind of perception that finds fulfillment in secessionist movements. For instance, the militant wing of IPOB, ESN, claimed that it emerged as child of circumstance to contain the marauding invasion of armed herders who forcibly occupied the forests in the Southeast with alleged connivance of the state apparatus.
Indeed, the Igbo question which Kanu represents is indestructible. It can only be tamed by justice. Kanu has control of people in the informal sector and the middle class in the Southeast. Those who feel hurt by the systemic failings of the Nigerian state are his secret fans, too. And the number is enlarging. The elites are afraid of him. President Tinubu will go down in history as a friend of Ndigbo if he uses his Prerogative of Mercy to withdraw the charges against Kanu and facilitate his release and rehabilitation. While political appointments and establishment of South East Development Commission are important, they cannot give him the mileage which Kanu’s release would give in the hearts of Ndigbo. It was the state burial given to Ojukwu that bonded Jonathan with Ndigbo, not that he affixed Azikiwe to his name. On the other hand, ask Buhari whether the second Niger bridge endeared him more to Ndigbo!