So, Where is Nnamdi Kanu?

Saturday POLSCOPE  

with Eddy Odivwri
eddy.odivwri@thisdaylive.com 08053069356

Since the September 14 invasion of their Afarakwu residence in Abia State, the leader of the proscribed separatist movement, Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Mazi Nnamdi Kanu and his parents have remained unseen and unheard.

One of his brothers simply identified as “Fineboy” had claimed that he knew where Kanu is hiding and would not disclose it to anyone.

But by midweek, the narrative had been tweaked by the Kanu family to claim that he was missing. Another Kanu’s younger brother, simply identified as Emmanuel Kanu, demanded that the corpse of his brother and parents be released, if they have been killed by the Nigerian army.

The Nigerian army has denied having Kanu or his parents in their custody.
So, where is Kanu?
Not many people believe Kanu is really missing. If he was arrested or killed during the Operation Python Dance raid, neither the IPOB members nor the Kanu family would wait for two weeks before raising the alarm on the whereabouts of the IPOB leader.
I strongly suspect it is just a gimmick of wanting to put the Nigerian Army on the defence and on the spot. Were it not so, Fineboy would not have declared that he knew where Kanu is but just wouldn’t say.
Besides, after the Federal High Court proscribed IPOB and declared it a terrorist organization, its lawyer appealed the proscription order arguing that the court had no jurisdiction to grant such an order.
Who gave the IPOB lawyer the go-ahead to contest the court order? Was it a missing Kanu or a hiding Kanu?

My worry and concern is not the whereabouts of Kanu, whom I believe, is hibernating somewhere cadging for some food and sunshine; trying to regain his breath and reset his moves, but it is on the innocent lives that have been lost in the senseless quest for secession. Kanu had literally deceived them with sweet talks, and the naivety of the followers made them believe he was more than he really is. Before and after he was granted bail, many had died in the course of the Biafran struggle. Their fighting zeal must have been reinforced after hearing him last August 27when he boasted about his prowess and might.
See what he said:
“Where we are is Biafra land. Aba is the spiritual capital of Biafra land. We started in Aba in 2015 at CKC. That day, heaven authenticated our move that IPOB will restore Biafra and that’s what we have come to do. We died in Aba at National High School. They shot and killed us in other places in Biafra land where they were protesting for my release. As our people rest in the grave, we’ll never rest until Biafra is restored. I don’t care what they say in Abuja. I don’t give a damn what they say in Lagos. I’m a Biafran and we are going to crumble the zoo. Some idiots who are not educated said that they’ll arrest me, and I ask them to come, I’m in Biafra. If any of them leaves Biafra land alive, know that this is not IPOB. Tell them what I said. Tell Buhari that I am in Aba and any person who comes to arrest Nnamdi Kanu in Biafra land will die here. I’ll never go on exile I assure you. What we want is Biafra. We are not slowing down and no man born of a woman can stop us…”

So, how many of his attackers did he kill? Was it not his followers that got killed? Indeed, his attackers left Biafra alive, so it is not IPOB. Or is it?

I had always wondered how far Nnamdi Kanu believed he would go with his Biafran agitation.
Besides a grain of Igbo elite who had given some tacit support for the so-called Biafran republic, for the larger majority of the Igbo people, it is a Brought-in-Dead idea.
Unfortunately, Kanu and his (largely young and unschooled) crowd believe that realizing Biafra is/was just a breath away. But the IPOB enthusiasts fail to ask one question: If the Biafran agitation is so prospective, why did Kanu not bring his immediate family to join in the crusade for Biafra? Why is his wife and children still sequestered in the UK?
The youthful members, many of whom (including Kanu himself, since he just clocked 50 now) never saw the ire and fire of the Nigerian civil war merely speak and echo the ululation of Biafra with uncommon zealotry, without weighing the overall implication.

I cannot forget how in 2014, I had gone for a conference in London with my then state governor, Dr Emmanuel Uduaghan. The subject, I think, was on The Performance of subnational governments in Nigeria. The then governor of Sokoto State, now Senator Aliu Wamakko was also on the panel of discussants. The conference held in the British parliament, London.

Midway into the discourse, one young fellow from the gallery raised his voice, shouting some obscene words denouncing Nigeria and all its leaders. He was not insane, just paranoid about Biafra. All attempts to calm him down proved abortive. Unknown to me, he had come with a small pack of “Biafran agitators”, all dressed in some outlandish outfits indicative of their “struggle”. They literally seized the floor with their ruckus noise. It took the intervention of the British police to restore order at the forum. I recall seeing the arrested “leader” detained in the cold winter breeze as we left the venue that night.
Kanu and his ilk are so overarched in the Biafran ideology so much that they think anyone not in support of the movement is a traitor and a fool. They fail to realise that Nigeria with over 180 million people are largely anti-disintegration of Nigeria.
But Kanu and co are cock sure that the referendum they are clamouring for will confirm a desire for Biafra. How wrong!

Indeed, a funny social media post last week showed how asphyxiated the Biafran followers are. The post, mimicking the L1 defect of some persons from that part of the country said “ No lefelundum, No Erection”.
Truly, I had wondered where Kanu got the guts to declare that there would be no election in Anambra State come November 18, unless a referendum was conducted.

It was a clear affront to the Nigerian state.
I had imagined that the way Kanu was boastful of his plans, he had an impregnable armoury.
I had thus expected some good resistance from his “arsenal” when the Nigerian state moves against him. The Python Dance literally ran over the Biafran Brigade in the ease with which hot knife runs through butter bulk. As it turned out, the fight ended before it even started. Kanu simply went under, leaving his followers to drink the muddy water and slap one another in humiliating gestures. I had suspected that the four seizures (in eight months) of firearms in Lagos Tin Can port, amounting to 2, 671 rifles had something to do with IPOB.

That he was already grooming some National Guards, as well as maintaining a Secret Service plus hoisting the Biafran flag, issuing Biafran passport, etc., meant he was determined to run a sovereign state within a larger sovereign state. No responsible government will tolerate that! Not even the Biafran republic of his dream.

The larger majority of the Igbo have put the Nigerian civil war behind them and have since moved on, literally seizing the economic soul of the Nigerian state. To set them on a collision course with the larger Nigerian state again, with the concomitant consequences, would amount to a silly return to Egypt.
Yes, there are inequalities in the Nigerian federation. The Igbo are not the only victims. Therefore, secession will neither fix it nor nix it.
Pix—Kanu

Canticles…

57 Steps to Nationhood

Tomorrow is our 57th Independence anniversary. Which of the Independence parties are you attending? Is the one at the Lekki resort or the one at the Mainland square?

Why should I waste my time go for any party? What is there to celebrate? I will rather rest my bones and think of how to help myself since the nation has consistently failed to come to my aid.

What a negative thought! How can you say Nigeria has not helped you? The fact that you are alive and able to think is a proof that Nigeria has been on your side.

It is by the grace of God that I am alive and thinking, not Nigeria. This is a nation that consumes its own. Those who are surviving are doing so because God is on their side. So the celebration really should be a thanksgiving to God.

It’s all part of it. But for God itself, Nigeria would have disintegrated. And that is why we must celebrate having a yet united Nigeria.

Really? How united are we? Didn’t that sage say Nigeria is a mere geographical expression? Are we not more divided now than when that statement was made? What is it that binds us together? Have we not now had more secessionist moves and agitations more than ever before?
Have you not noticed that the ethnic fault lines are now more defined in our polity?

You are deliberately choosing to see the bottle as half empty instead of seeing it as half full. Look, there is no perfect nation or dwelling place. Only heaven perhaps.
There are many flowery things to celebrate in Nigeria my brother. The fact that for 18 years, we have had unbroken reign of democratic governance is something to be cheerful about. The fact that despite all the challenges, we are still one indivisible country is something to be giddy about. The fact that we are not at war with one another is something to pump the champagne over. The fact that …

(cuts in) Enough of those wrong-headed facts. You can choose to delude yourself if you wish. But I will not. All you need to assess the strength of any nation is just to check out the basic socio-metrics of life. Let me ask you: what is the average life span of Nigerians today? What is the level of security enjoyed by Nigerians today? What is the level of literacy in Nigeria? Can Nigerians feed themselves? Do you know how many Nigerian youths die in the Mediterranean Sea every year in their desperation to cross over to Europe in search of better life? Do you know the level of unemployment in Nigeria, even for the very educated? How many companies have shut down or streamlined their operations? Did you not read how Gov Ambode of Lagos State donated 120 generators to the Police, meaning that there is indeed no hope for stable electricity? Or have you not noticed that the more we spend to have electricity, the thicker the darkness we are thrown into? How many Nigerians have faith in our educational and medical services? How many big men agree to be treated in Nigeria, even for catarrh? Or what sickness was it that took our own President to London for 104 days, that could not be treated in Nigeria?
Look, at Independence, countries like India, Malaysia etc., were even behind Nigeria. Today, India has become the greatest destination for medical tourism. Malaysia has become a developed nation, just as we are yet bedstraggled in puppetry.
Is it on education? ASUU and strikes will not let our universities to measure up, so much that middle-class Nigerians now send their children to even Cotonou (not minding the language barrier), Ghana, etc. Have you not noticed the democratic growth in ignorance among those who manage to graduate from our schools? I can go on and on, and you will see that we should actually be ashamed and go for national retreat on how to rejig Nigeria.

Hmmmm….. the task of governance is a continuum. The journey of a thousand miles begins with a step. For us in Nigeria, we have taken the 57th step in the journey to nationhood. Yes, we could have done better, given our natural endowments. But let us be consoled by the fact that it is better late than never. We are now headed in the right direction at a better–paced speed. Let those who have gone ahead, run on. We shall travel slowly and we too shall arrive.

It is people like you who are yet enamoured by the complex mechanism of a wheelbarrow when your mates are already going to the moon with rockets and spaceships.

According to Bob Marley, forget your sorrow and dance, my brother. Independence Day comes once in a year. After all, there are some in the mortuary right now, even as some are in the grave. Somebody make some n-o-i-s-e!!!!!!