Stephen Ukandu, Umuahia
Multidisciplinary scholar, Public Affairs Analyst and Management Consultant, Professor Okey Ikechukwu, mni, has said that the the Federal Government needs to review its handling of Nnamdi Kanu’s case, as well as the profiling of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB). The lecturer and former Acting Chairman, Editorial Board of The Guardian Newspapers, who made the submission while featuring on Ikengaonline townhall meeting Thursday night, said in response to a remark by Kanu’s younger brother, Kanunta Kanu, who called into the monthly virtual zoom meeting from Germany to complain that his brother had been abandoned in jail by the political elite of the people he was fighting to liberate.
Professor Ikechukwu said: “Nnamdi Kanu is one of the most courageous young men Igbo had produced. He is also one of the many young men that were not properly understood.
“Even if a young man is misbehaving, there is a way you talk to him. In 1999 when I was the Chairman of the Editorial Board of Comet Newspapers (now The Nation Newspapers), the Yoruba led by Pa Adesanya came to visit us and I told him that the OPC (Odua Progressive Congress), was giving a lot of trouble. And he said to me: ‘My friend, you are a young man. If you like I will go and abuse their Leader, Adams, but in the evening I will go and tell him what to do next. That’s how we deal with our young people here. I don’t know what you people are doing in Igboland.”
Professor Ikechukwu further noted that IPOB is also talking about the calculated marginalisation of Ndigbo by the Nigerian State.
“That’s why a small group that is actually harmless at first was declared a terror organisation while Miyetti Allah is not called a terrorist organisation.”
He insisted that IPOB is not the bane of the Igbo nation but blamed it on leadership failure and lack of coordination among the ruling class to push for regional integration.
“The crisis of Ohanaeze is not IPOB; It’s the Governors. We had a retreat in Owerri, did they (Governors) come? Chief Iwuanyanwu has come out do a few things but there is the other one they call Isiguzo who some people are using to whittle down the voice of Ohanaeze. But the voices of Arewa Consultative Forum and Afenifere are going up.”
He, noted that although Kanu might have a good agenda for the Igbo nation, his utterances, sometimes, tend to push away people that might help him fine-tune some of his concerns.
“For me, Nnamdi has no business being in prison till now. The only concern is that the way he speaks most of the time, also alienates those who may wish to help him.”
The former Director General of the International Institute for Leadership and Governance, who currently teaches at the Nigerian Army Resource Centre and several Nigerian universities, expressed concern that Kanu should be careful with those close to him.
“I see a lot of danger around him – not only from Government but from the people around him. When this whole thing began and he was brought to court, he spoke very angrily about the sufferings of his people. But there was this other young man with him who also spoke exactly like him. Remember that Sankara was killed by Blaise Compaore. Sankara led the coup but the man working with him was the man who killed him.
“So, I told people that if IPOB becomes a force, Kanu’s first problem is that those boys may murder him. The other one was even talking while Nnamdi was talking.”
Professor Ikechukwu submitted that the agitation for Biafra would not be realised by violence or needless mayhem as being perpetrated by some criminal elements.
“That’s why you find now opportunistic criminality. If people get guns and run to burn down INEC office or a police station, and run back to the bush, that will not bring Biafra. When a police station is destroyed, the small burglars who were hitherto afraid will start coming out because they know there is no police any more.
“The people you shoot at INEC office are Igbo. That’s simply their means of livelihood,” he said.
Professor Ikechukwu further expressed worry over the absence of central authority in the South-East, saying that the sprouting of so many non-state actors hiding under the cloak of agitation for Biafra, had compounded security challenge in the zone. He regretted that a lot of mischief makers, including security operatives, commit criminal acts in the South-East and point accusing fingers at IPOB.
“Assuming Nnamdi’s boys are the ones holding the entire South-East and declaring the sit-at-home orders, then you know there is a central authority. But today, there is no central authority in the South-East. People will go and do what Nnamdi Kanu will find painful and annoying to do, and put it in his name. This is what caused the death of Professor Onyemelukwe, a professor of over 30 years.
“Some boys saw him driving on the road and stopped his car. They said he was a saboteur working with the Fulani against Igbo interest. They said: we can see the evidence! Do you know the evidence? He was wearing a caftan. ‘This is Fulani dress! You cannot wear Fulani attire in Igboland. You are a saboteur. At your age, you are sabotaging Igbo interest.’
“So, they gave him two bullets and the man was dead in front of his two daughters. That’s the extent to which this whole thing has degenerated. It’s happening and people in Abuja are saying: don’t mind them. It’s Nnamdi that is sending them.”
“Even as Ohanaeze is trying, all these people playing rogue are not even interested in Igbo welfare. They are using all these to cause confusion. If somebody annoys you, you go and send people to murder him and say it’s IPOB. That’s the unfortunate situation we are into.”
He further regretted that instead of the criminal elements who had hijacked the agitation for Biafra, and are bringing bad image to IPOB to go after criminal herders that have virtually taken over forests in the South-East, they rather direct the attacks on hapless citizens.
He said: “Criminal herdsmen are all over the forest. In my own town, there was a woman they cut off her hand because she was screaming that their cows were eating her crops. They slashed off half of her hand and went away. Uzo-Uwani in Enugu State is totally taken over. Assuming the war is against these criminal herders, then I can understand it. But for the war to be against our people is plain confusion.”
Professor Ikechukwu spoke on the topic, “The Performance of South-East Governors and Citizens’ Accountability Demands.” Participants from across the globe joined the virtual meeting, anchored by Dr Osmond Agbo, and Dr Chido Onumah.
Ikengaonline is a South-East-focused online media outfit which aims at giving voice to citizens of the South-East, parts of Rivers and Delta states, and highlighting the challenges facing the region.
It is a publication of Ikenga Media and Cultural Awareness Initiative (IMCAI), a non-profit entity that seeks to promote positive socio-cultural values, accountability and good governance through media and public education.
Ikengaonline townhall meeting is part of the Collaborative Media Engagement for Development Inclusivity and Accountability Project, a multi-level intervention for media independence and government accountability, managed by the Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism (WSCIJ) and supported by the MacArthur Foundation.
