Nnamdi Kanu As Metaphor For Freedom
Francis Abayomi
At last Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the controversial Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and voice behind the now rested pro-Biafra Radio has secured a temporary freedom after a long-drawn legal battle. It cannot however be denied that his detention and trial mark a turning-point in Nigeria’s history of popular struggles and civil agitations while the road to freedom for him began with a twist. A high profile press conference by few notable Nigerians led by former CBN governor Professor Charles Soludo with others concerned individuals including Professor Pat Utomi was strident enough to convince anyone that conspiracy of silence over Kanu’s travail has an expiry date. And so when it was time for wheel of freedom to assert itself, not even the most stringent bail condition of providing a highly respected Jewish Leader as surety could stand as barrier!
For the avoidance of doubts, Kanu’s trial and the somewhat hypocritical and conspiratorial reactions it elicited amongst leading platforms and voices for freedom in Nigeria represent a defining moment in the self-consuming political overdose; an insidious flu, so to speak, that tends to indulge conscience in conspiracy of silence. To be sure, the overdose is essentially about confusing support for prevailing political order with the imperative of affirming standards that ought to define the confines and latitudes of our humanity as people and a country. It should therefore be instructive enough that while known and revered popular platforms and voices of courage chose to look the other way, the struggle of Nnamdi Kanu and the fight for his freedom acquired a momentum that was not only uniquely compelling but also self-defining.
Perhaps, it should not be considered strange that a good number of popular voices in Nigeria acquiesced to the forces that deprived Kanu his freedom as affirmed by the law courts. There was so much pretence about silencing Nnamdi Kanu when his alleged crime was not as heinous as the barefaced evils that griped the country while he was in detention. Abandoned by vociferous tribe of Nigeria’s freedom fighters and human rights campaigners, it came across like Nnamdi Kanu in the solitude of his travail was going to be turned a hero rather than a villain. Infraction condoned by popular conscience as manifested with the detention and trial of Kanu speak loudly of the pervasive danger of acquiescence being excused for political correctness. Alas, in a country of pretenders, history would only serve to make a huge saint of the ones presumed guilty!
The huge lesson therefore is that freedom of any individual could not be traded or trampled, for too long, on the altar of political correctness and for whatever reasons or guise. Arrested 14th October, 2015 and since detained and put on trial on treason related charges, the ordeal of Kanu has only succeeded in deepening the quest for freedom from the contraption constituted by the Nigerian state. Nevertheless, there is yet no assurance that we now fully appreciate that the likes of Kanu who chose advocacy as means of political agitations are not the criminals that should be standing trails for treason. The real criminal and felons should be the ones roaming the land free; leaving gory picturesque of blood-letting and devastation.
But if Kanu’s detention and trial fit into the narrow political agenda of few power elite amongst us, how do we explain the hypocrisies of known activists who like Nnamdi Kanu deployed their passions and energies into engaging the Nigerian State for years; and if not decades. There must be reason why Kanu’s detention and trial attracted conspiracy of silence as well as snide comments from key self-determination activists; now self-styled for whatever reasons that should not have beclouded what IPOB agitation connotes for freedom in Nigeria. If the quarrel is that Kanu deployed the airwaves into making his demands on the Nigerian State, the truth remains that he was only following in the footsteps of notable ‘comrades’ of the struggle who are still alive including a serving federal minister.
A good student of Nigerian history should have known that Kanu’s trial will end up a political comedy as events have unfolded so far. The reluctance of the government to obey court orders with respect to freedom granted the accused by the law courts would now appear to carry much heavier weight in the court of public opinion than the weight of the charges levelled against Nnamdi Kanu. In effect, it was the Nigerian state that turned Nnamdi Kanu into a victim of a faulty system and possibly a prisoner of conscience in the estimation of majority of Nigerians including freedom lovers across the world.
Nnamdi Kanu as metaphor simply implies that freedom is beyond what anyone feels about IPOB struggle as well as the agitation for Biafra. Kanu’s hard earned freedom; even if temporary vindicates the sanctity of his humanity; regardless of how intensely his personality has been assailed by presumption of guilt. What then need to be said is that political overdose is indeed curable the same way conspiracy of silence has an expiry date. And it does not really matter how Nnamdi Kanu’s trial ends; what is important is that his freedom as guaranteed by humanity has been restored within the ambit of international statutes as well as the laws of the land.
This articled was first featured in HARDBEAT COLUMN; INDEPENDENT SUNDAY, 30th April, 2017