Political Panorama Issue No 24
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| Mazi Nnamdi Kanu |
The protracted detention of Mazi
Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), remains one of
the most glaring examples of selective justice in Nigeria’s recent history.
Despite repeated court rulings affirming that his extraordinary rendition from
Kenya violated international law, the Nigerian state has persisted in holding
him without conviction.
As earlier argued in another
tabloid, Kanu’s
continued detention despite multiple legal rulings in his favor, remains one of
the most disturbing contradictions of Nigeria’s Fourth Republic. While public
discourse often reduces the matter to issues of separatism or national
security, a deeper interrogation reveals a far more calculated equation crafted
from elite complicity, federal strategy, and intra-ethnic sabotage. This is not
merely a legal deadlock. It is a crisis deliberately sustained by a convergence
of interests across political, ethnic, and institutional lines - a convergence
that fears what Kanu symbolizes more than what he has done.
Under the clear provisions of Sections 66, 107, and 137 of
the 1999 Constitution, mere detention without conviction does not disqualify
any Nigerian from contesting elections. This fact alone ought to galvanise a
new line of thinking within the Southeast and beyond.
Rather than resorting to violence, an
approach that has tragically eroded the moral high ground of the cause, Nigerians
who believe in justice, equity, and national renewal should employ the most
potent democratic tool at their disposal which is the ballot.
If the Nigerian state is unwilling to free Nnamdi Kanu
through legal and diplomatic pressure, the people should respond by buying him
a nomination form into the Nigerian Senate. In a twist of constitutional
ingenuity, the very institutions that have kept him incarcerated could be compelled
to clear his path to a parliamentary seat.
A Pan-Nigerian Kanite Movement must be birthed in support
of Kanu. Not as a narrow ethnic platform, but as a broad-based coalition united
around justice, federal reform, and genuine inclusivity in governance. This
movement would aim to transform Kanu from a prisoner of conscience into a
legislator of conscience, capable of using the floor of the National Assembly
to press for regional empowerment, equity in resource distribution, and the
dismantling of the political glass ceiling that has kept the Southeast in
perpetual suspicion and marginalisation.
Such a movement would have
far-reaching effects beyond the cause of the Southeast. It would set a national
precedent: that in Nigeria, political power can and should be wrested from the
grip of entrenched elites by peaceful, lawful, and strategic mobilisation. By
building the Kanite Movement on the principles of pan-Nigerian solidarity
rather than secessionist rhetoric, we open the door to securing more powers for
the regions; a prize that would be far more beneficial than the uncertainties
and economic risks of secession.
Those who have benefited most from
Kanu’s long incarceration are not only in Abuja. They are also found within the
Southeast political elite - men and women whose own influence would be
diminished if Kanu emerged on the national stage as a legitimate political
force. By keeping him in prison, they avoid a rival whose popular credibility
they cannot buy or manufacture. This betrayal underscores the need for the
Kanite Movement to reject the stale political offerings of the APC, PDP,
Labour, and APGA. These parties have, in varying degrees, participated in or
benefitted from the politics of exclusion.
The Kanite Movement should instead
align with the broader Coalition for a
Clean Start. A political front that seeks to redefine Nigerian
politics along the lines of competence, equity, and people-driven governance.
In this coalition, Kanu’s candidacy would not be about personality cults, but
about a democratic reclamation of political space that has been denied to the
Southeast for decades.
The challenge before us is not merely
to free Nnamdi Kanu. It is to free the Nigerian federation from the grip of
elite manipulation, regional distrust, and authoritarian reflexes. By putting
Kanu in the Senate, we not only force the state to obey its own laws, we also
create a platform from which the barriers against the Southeast in Nigerian
politics can be dismantled from within.
In my article of June 12 published by NewsGiant, it was emphasised that the struggle for Kanu’s freedom is
not just about Nnamdi Kanu. Rather, his incarceration is a metaphor for the
suffocation of regional political identity. It reveals a federation where court
judgments are ignored, where fear dictates governance, and where justice is
subordinated to strategy.
The Igbo political elite will not lead the charge for Kanu’s
release. They have shown their loyalties lie with Abuja, not Alaigbo. Their
silence must now be treated as betrayal. Their complicity must be confronted.
The torch now passes to the ordinary Nigerians, including traders,
students, religious bodies, artisans, civil society groups. Kanu’s freedom is
no longer a legal battle; it is a political covenant. It will only
come through mass mobilization and principled political strategy.
The thumb, not the gun, must be our weapon of choice.
Violence has already drained too much blood, silenced too many voices, and
hardened too many hearts. The ballot, if wielded with strategic unity, can achieve
what bullets never will, that is, a Nigeria where justice is not negotiable,
and where no region must beg for its rightful place in the federation.
It is time for Nigerians of all
backgrounds - Igbo, Yoruba, Hausa, Tiv, Ijaw, Kanuri, Fulani to join hands in
launching the Kanite Movement.
Not to break Nigeria apart, but to break the chains of injustice, and to prove
that in the end, it is the people not the prison wardens of politics who decide
the nation’s future.
Until next week, this is Political Panorama with Ola Olateju - Voice of the Coalition. Voice of the People.
- watching the horizon, one controversy at a time
www.politicalpanorama.com.ng
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