Nnamdi Kanu as another government stunt

The penultimate week in the month of November 2025 has earned an epochal place in the chronicles of Nigeria under the leadership of Bola Tinubu as president. After two and a half years of manifest inability to enhance the human development index in any public sector or achieve anything worth recording, the Tinubu government finally made a point.

The conviction by the Tinubu government of the Igbo political agitator, Nnamdi Kanu on Thursday, November 20 2025, is, without doubt, and for many reasons, the singular most striking act of the Tinubu presidency. The action may not necessarily have a definitive value, but it confirms a pattern of politics and mindset of Bola Tinubu that have been his identity all along.

Neither US President Donald Trump, who recently became vociferous over the appalling refusal or failure of the Tinubu government to tackle terrorism within its domain, nor indeed, any other critic, will now say that Tinubu has not taken action against terrorism. That is one angle to the development. It turns out though, that Americans, as reflected by comments at a congressional hearing on Nigeria the same last week, scoff at the very act that Tinubu expected to prove a point with.

The conviction of Kanu as the pre-eminent terrorist in Nigeria is a type of tale that only emanates from Nigeria. No matter what, the Tinubu government definitely see it as a trophy and will surely, wave it in some circles, as a sign of his keeping faith. By the singular act of convicting Kanu, Tinubu has accomplished in two and half years what his predecessor and ally, President Muhammadu Buhari could not do in eight years.

Although Buhari harboured an unconcealed animus towards Kanu, a disposition that appeared to be mutual with the volatile younger agitator, it appeared that the former military dictator had doubts about the prospects of successfully convicting Kanu in the court of Law. He knew that going after Kanu legally had many pitfalls.

The crux of Buhari’s beef with Kanu and his Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB) were two folds; first, his galvanizing public resentment and opposition against the brazen move by Fulani territorial invaders to gain ground across Nigeria. Kanu actually raised substantial national consciousness against the pernicious import of the invasion of the groups that the Buhari government coated with various tags, from herdsmen and bandits, to climate change victims – anything but terrorists. The second unacceptable offense by Kanu and his IPOB as far as Buhari seemed to hold it, was having the temerity to challenge his government. As far as he was concerned, their fathers had been permanently silence through the defeat in the civil war, so it impudence to the level of affront for a Biafran boy to rise against his government.

Although he oversaw the successful kidnapping of Kanu in a foreign country, a proven forte of the retired General, Buhari was satisfied to leave the irritant in detention, having also maximally exploited the boy’s stupidity to wreak deeper devastation in the South East, to teach them a lesson Buhari eventually left the scene with just designating IPOB a terrorist organization as his achievement, in addition to dumping Kanu in detention.

Last week, Tinubu proved to the circle he is beholden to that he has what it takes to do what Buhari could not do. That, obviously, should be reckoned to him as courage and faithfulness.

It is not very difficult to understand the mindset, the calculations and the ground laid by Tinubu to solve the Nnamdi Kanu matter. While for instance, Buhari was contented with just taking the apex court, having openly taken out the Chief Justice he did not want and replacing him with the one he needed, Tinubu wanted more than the apex court. He needed all of the estate and has indeed, got all of them to be standing on his mandate. It is not for nothing that anyone who is aggrieved at being short-changed under the prevailing order, is sarcastically asked to go to court.

In the case of Nnamdi Kanu, the courts that earlier ruled in his favour were obviously the wrong courts. The right courts were always called in to give the right judgment.

Justice James Omotosho did not leave anyone in doubt when he stepped in, that he was standing on the mandate to dispose of the nagging matter. With President Trump smoking the Nigerian president out of his comfort zone that did not seem to be perturbed by the mounting deaths from terrorist-killings across the country, the time seemed apropros to kill two birds with one stone.

While Kanu could not be convicted for committing genocide against Christians or against Moslems, and while no killing was traced to him, Judge Omotosho had no problems agreeing with the state prosecutor, Chief Adegboyega Awomolo, that words of mouth could indeed, be more lethal than bullet and bomb. The judge therefore, found in Kanu’s Biafra radio broadcasts and his caustic commentaries far more devastating than AK 47 and bombs deployed by lesser terrorists who kill thousands of Nigerians.

For good measures, Judge Omotosho introduced curious later discoveries, not included in the charges before him, that Kanu was preparing to bomb foreign embassies in Nigeria. At that point, Judge Omotosho’s judgment came unravelled. But he had not finished. He further declared in his judgment that because he is a Christian, full of compassion, he could not sentence his victim, who he called an international terrorist, to death. Now, it is known that non-Christian judges lack compassion. All terrorist should strive to appear before Omotosho, the man of God. Justice James Omotosho is, from all indications, on his on class.

Now that Tinubu has proved that he could do what Buhari could not, managing his courageous action is the challenge. With terrorism now at an epidemic level in the country, leading to schools closing down in various states, a General executed by terrorists in public glare without repercussion and Sheik Gumi and his ilk calling on the government to give the terrorists what they want – which nobody seems to know – the world is watching Tinubu the strong man.

Terrorism has been the bane of the Nigerian state since the All-Progressives Congress (APC) regime came along in 2015, led by Buhari and Tinubu. Nnamdi Kanu and IPOB have never been a threat to the larger Nigerian society. Without doubt, rogue elements, whether inside IPOB or using its cloak, brought so much pain and sorrow to an otherwise peaceful South East zone. Clearly, however, neither Buhari nor Tinubu was out to bring justice and peace to the South East.

Tinubu’s sham anti-terrorism triumph of convicting Nnamdi Kanu is bound to be a pyrrhic victory. It is a hollow victory that does not scratch the problem of terrorism that is engulfing Nigeria. At best the victory is one more skit in a government that appears to be one skit after another. It is sad that this is what seems to count to the government. Whatever guarantees political leverage and propaganda peg is all that matters. Inevitably, however, tomorrow will come. And there will be requital for these costly stunts.