From Ojukwu To Nnamdi Kanu: Another Thought.
One of the greatest crowd I have ever witnessed was in 1982 when HE General Chukwuemeka Odimegwu Ojukwu visited Aba, after being pardoned by the highly respected President Sheuh Shagari. A man I love so much and still do.
The turn out was unprecedented, the emotions, love and respect showered on the former Biafrian leader was beyond human comprehension. Till he die, Ojukwu commanded a special place in the minds of millions of Igbos round the world. His burial was not a burial, it was a ceremony to crown a god, honour an oracle and announce to the world beyond that the earth has lost a gem.
You see why most Igbos ignored so many of President Jonathan's shortcomings and crowned him a king. He did a simple thing: at death, he made sure our leader got a national burial. It might look ironic but, you are forgetting one thing:Ojukwu was our hero and he restored our pride by honouring him at death. That simple act made us-Igbo to have a sense of belonging and started feeling belonged 40 years after the war.
The essence of my story is to draw President Buhari's attention to the continued detention of Nnamdi Kanu and make him see reason why he should be released.
All these love, respect and admiration that was showered on Ojukwu in 1982 and his burial like a god was because of one thing; BIAFRA.
Nothing else, nothing more.
There was a Biafra that existed for 3years and it was the 3 most frustrating and horrifying years that has affected the psych of every Igbo family. Stories are being told at homes, books written and issues raised that leads to regrets and revelations of sad memories.
After the war, Gen. Gowon promised us, "rehabilitation, reconstruction and restoration" it never happened. The love, care, and pacification that ought to follow was rather followed with ossification, discrimination and rejection.
Shagari, IBB and Jonathan remains the only leaders that has come close to giving us a sense of belonging. In Shagari was a national builder who betrayed no atom of dislike, hatred or sense of, "them and us". IBB in every aspect showed us that we were his in-law's. While Jonathan took us as a family. OBJ could have earned being mentioned because he tried for us in his second coming. But, he's constant reminder and the blunder of yelling at us to wait for 200 because we lost the war opened a healed wound.
That after over 40years the war ended an Nnamdi Kanu sprang up and have a ready audience made up of his fathers,the educated etc will reveal something to you.
And the revelation is that the issue is not Nnamdi Kanu. There's something beyond him that attracted attention to his Radio Biafra.
To look at Nnamdi Kanu and decided to punish him or use him to set an example is to live in denial of the truth.
Nnamdi Kanu is just symptom. If you want to cure the disease look for the cause.
There was Ojukwu that was suppressed with a combined heavy force, east and Igbos bombard and killed and 30 years an Uwazurike sprang up and through that same effect go followers. Over 40 years later we are dealing with Nnamdi Kanu. That will tell you that there's an unaddressed issues beyond these personalities.
Kill Nnamdi Kanu, jail him, lock him up as long as you desire, since that effect is still there, tomorrow another person will spring up. It will be a sad story if the next Nnamdi Kanu will appear carrying arms with followers who are ready die on guerilla warfare because of how Nnamdi Kanu is being treated today.
As the president of Nigeria, you have highest 8 years to stay. You might be tough, no nonsense, intolerant of the issues playing out today but, after the you, who takes over the stage? Will such share similar characteristics with you?
Believe me, it might seem like a weakness on your side but, I must advice. Set that young man free and engage him directly or indirectly. You see, locking up Nnamdi Kanu is to inflame and justify the very reason that made Radio Biafra popular. He was saying that his people were being maltreated unjustly and you just played into his hand. His people shared similar opinion that was why Radio Biafra was so popular.
In his continued detention and with the events coming up daily especially, the Fulani herdsmen killing of his people, you are not really detaining Nnamdi Kanu, he's rather the one detaining you. It will come to a point where he will be stocked with you and you don't know exactly what to do with him. That's, if you are not already battling with that.
The truth is that, you are in the real sense of it preparing another Nnamdi Kanu who will simply learn from his mistakes. You are creating a larger audience another Nnamdi Kanu and Radio Biafra.You are creating awareness and sympathy for him throughout the international communities. You are giving reason for his people to gather in Sweden, Denmark, Britain, USA and Canada and request for his release. No matter how you look at it, you have turned him into a political prisoner. And in doing that, you are creating a little Mandela out of West Africa.
Nnamdi Kanu is not the issue. The issue is Biafra. Be a leader. Sit back and think. As far as most of the issues that the Biafrian crusaders feed on still exist the struggle will continue. Forget the politicians dancing around you and look for real Igbo leaders and have a round table meeting and handover their son to them and tell them to warn him. Engage us instead of jailing us. Your hardliner attitude has failed, why not try pampering. Be a father. You have barked. This is time to extend the other hand in love and see the outcome. The positive difference it will make might redirect the nation from brinks of collapse.
Set Nnamdi Kanu free. So far, his continued detention has won the sympathy of millions of people who were before against him. The more you lock him up the more you empower protest around Europe. The more the protest the faster you bring up the Biafrian question to be discussed internationally. Today, the world is dynamic and it just take a single drama or a single European personality that buys into their story to change the dynamics.
Set Nnamdi Kanu Free.
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source: Peter Agba Kalu
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