•Apparently, legal justice is not enough to restore peace to the South East
Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, now a celebrity of sorts, is such a complex personality. Among the Igbo people of the South East region, he is either a hero (to his followers and friends) or a villain to the millions who have suffered the loss of limbs and property. Others are so bitter about him that a mention of the ñame could make those who have lost family or relations throw up.
When Justice Kolawole Omotoso of the Federal High Çourt, Abuja finally delivered the judgment in the seven count charge preferred against him by the Department of State Services, the matter further divided the country. Beyond his kith and kin in the East, most people in other parts of the country where he had courted enemies by his caustic broadcasts on the illegal Radio Biafra channel were predominantly pleased that he got what he deserved. Some even, as the prosecution led by Adegboyega Awomolo, SAN, canvassed, felt he deserved the ultimate senence-death.
However, the case against Kanu, leader of the separatist Indigenous People of Biafra, is not that straightforward. Yes, on November 20 he had his day before the Court of Justice, it is obvious that what he got was just legal justice, which no one could fault, but the broader matter of social and political justice is still hanging, waiting for resolution.
Ideological and philosophical matters are hardly settled and not simply determined using the law of the land. In countries like the United Kingdom where the Irish Republican Army raged for decades and thousands were killed, the conflict could not be resolved by the many convictions of the zealots secured in the law courts.
In South Africa where the white supremacists had imposed the apartheid system, peace could not be restored until both sides, the blacks and whites negotiated the way forward. It is obvious that more than five decades after the civil war was lost and won, the people of the region continue to nurse a breakaway impulse for the region from Nigeria, and irrespective of whatever a figure like Kanu could have done to hurt the people, many of them still blame it on the Nigerian state. More than other parts of the country, words like marginalisation are thrown around more among Ndigbo. According to the law of the land, Kanu still has the opportunity of appealing the Omotoso verdict, but legal minds have argued that he stands little chance of being freed in the higher courts. One, because evidence adduced against him was so weighty that hardly could any judge have found him a lacuna for freedom.
Second, because he muddled up his case by his mannerism in court that is so documented by the trial judge, and his dismissal of his lawyers, including such members of the inner bar like Kanu Agabi, SAN, a former Attorney General of the Federation and the respected Onyechi Ikpeazu, SAN. The shabby treatment he gave his counsel right in court tended to support the charges against him as it suggests he is a violent man. He literally refused to submit to the authority of the court trying him. Third, some of those who could have pleaded his cause have been pushed away.
The question that should bother all is: what is the way forward? There is no doubt that men of the uniform are hurt, deeply hurt. They lost so many men, equipment and limbs. The social schism in the country has become deeper by the activities of IPOB and Eastern Security Network, its violent wing, both established and run by Kanu’s men. Certainly no government would easily gloss over the feeling of the armed forces and other security forces. Yet, the logjam must be broken, somehow.
Nnamdi Kanu is locked away in the Sokoto correctional centre, the heart of the caliphate that he had so vigorously campaigned against, and on which he chose to hang the travails of his people. A lot would depend on President Bola Tinubu to find political solution that would assuage the feelings of all involved. The first step to finding an out-of-court settlement to the conflict is for Nnamdi Kanu to be willing to make critical concessions. So far, he is yet to display remorse or convince the state that he would be willing to embrace peaceful conduct. To be released and bring an end to the apartheid regime, the venerable Nelson Mandela agreed to drop violent protest and lead the African National Congress into cooperating with the state, even after he had been in jail for 27 years.
The Igbo leaders must be involved and ensure that a more moderate leader emerges. It does not appear that Nnamdi Kanu has the temperament to drive the process. How could he be persuaded to step aside or assume a less prominent position? How would they all accept the minimum conditions put forward by the government? What concessions would the federal government come up with? What role would leaders of the other regions play in resolving the conflict?
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The international community may have to play some part in the same way that organisations like the Red Cross and the United Nations played in similar situations in other countries. If Israel and Hamas could negotiate through third parties, Nigeria would have to explore means of finding peace. At a time when the Northern parts of the country are boiling, we have to ensure that we secure the whole of the South. There is no doubt that bringing the East on board could be more difficult than the procedure adopted to bringing peace to the Niger Delta under the Jonathan administration. The Biafran Spirit has been on for so many decades and even children who were yet unborn by 1970 when the war ended have imbibed the ideology. This would therefore necessitate getting the diplomatic expertise of persons who had participated in such negotiations to drive the process.
The ball is in the court of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu. He has to show that he is willing to cooperate with the governors of the East for whom he had little respect, and the leadership of the Ohanaeze Ndigbo. Nigeria must move forward. To develop, the tempest in the various parts of the country has to subside. In the East, freedom for Kanu has become necessary, but it has to be at a cost. The haemorrhage must stop. This includes economic haemorrhage that came from the shutdown on Mondays. The Igbo people are industrious traders and businessmen and should be free to transact their businesses in accordance with the laws of the land.
Truly, all hands must be on deck.
