Nnamdi Kanu Is on Personal Vendetta & Supremacy Tussle Against Nnia Nwodo, Not Freedom Fighting

by Charles Ogbu

I was going to ignore this excerpt from Nnamdi Kanu’s June 28 (two days ago) broadcast wherein he categorically called on his followers all over the world to stone the Ohanaeze Ndiigbo President General, Chief John Nnia Nwodo to death anywhere he is sighted because according to him, Nwodo didn’t do anything to stop herdsmen killings in Igbo land. But after reading some comments from supposedly educated and civilized Igbo justifying that statement, it occurred to me that sometimes, silence could be dangerous, if not criminal.

You see, it is not an argument that Nigeria is not working and, from every indication, will likely never work. Hence the demand for Biafra. But if Biafra we are seeking is a nation where the leader will simply sit in a studio and summarily order the stoning to death of anyone for whatever reason, why then are we talking of leaving Nigeria?

If our future Biafra is a nation where the leader will be seen as a Messiah incapable of doing any wrong and above correction or criticism, then what’s the point of struggling to get Biafra?

Nnamdi Kanu didn’t issue Fatwa on any of the Southeast governors who have real political powers and control hundreds of millions every month in the name of security votes. He simply singled out the Ohanaeze PG, whom he had repeatedly described as “a saboteur from the lineage of Saboteurs” and asked that he be stoned to death. In Kanu’s logic, a sociocultural leader has more responsibility for protecting Alaigbo than the political leaders with both the means, structure and legitimacy? And we supposed to believe he is not pursuing a personal grudge under the guise of Biafra?

I hate to say this. But Kanu is gradually turning what is supposed to be a people’s collective quest for freedom, justice and fairness into a tool for personal vendetta and supremacy war. And this is a shame. But the bigger shame is seeing enlightened Igbos justifying this in a desperate bid to prove that Kanu is always right. The tragic irony is that the “Kanu-is-always-right” brigades are actually the worst enemies to the IPOB leader because any friend who will hail someone, even when that person is on the road to self-destruction, is actually an enemy.

I’m petrified that despite thousands of intellectuals in IPOB, no one could tell Kanu that a man who commands millions of followers ordering that another man should be stoned to death, for whatever reason, can actually be held legally accountable if anything happens to the other person. You cannot hide behind insecurity to pursue a personal quarrel with Chief Nwodo. That’s wrong.

The mistake some of us make is thinking that the US, UK and other civilized nations have preferential treatment for IPOB. They don’t. These nations don’t act on emotion. They act on facts, regardless of who is involved, which is why they refused to agree with a vindictive Nigerian government on the IPOB terrorist tag. But the moment these countries can conclusively be convinced that IPOB is guilty of organized violence, their position will change. And remember, the Nigerian state and her allies and agents are always on the lookout for any material to justify their terrorist label on IPOB. And sadly, some of you, drunk on emotion yet empty on reason, have continued to provide them with a weapon to use against you.

As I type, a US Commission on International Religious Freedom USCIRF 2020 REPORT ON NIGERIA (https://www.lnc-usa.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/USCIRF-2020-REPORT-ON-NIGERIA.pdf) expressly named IPOB as one of the entities levying attacks on places of worship in Nigeria. (Paragraph 2 of Page 2). They cited a media report that IPOB members “attacked five Christians, including a priest, for holding a mass in defiance of IPOB orders to stay at home”. (If you want the full report or the page that mentioned IPOB, feel free to download it by clicking on the weblink above. And remember, this report will be submitted to all US agencies and departments, including the State Department.

Mobilizing divisions of the Nigerian Army just for the sake of raiding unarmed and undefended Nnamdi Kanu’s residence is said to have been motivated by the psychosis of power!

Now, imagine for a second that the Ohanaeze PG is harmed anytime soon. Do you think the Nigerian state will not milk the situation to justify their terrorist tag on IPOB? Or you think decent nations will still treat you as a nonviolent group?  I’m ashamed that I had to break this thing down this way.

I want an independent Biafra nation premised on the rule of law, free speech and respect for the sanctity of human lives. I want absolutely nothing to do with a Biafra premised on intolerance, hate-preaching, vendetta, and barbaric utterances, such as this.

The other day, it was a careless statement of how every churchgoer is going to hell straight. Now, it is a declaration that your opponent should be stoned. This is certainly not the Biafra that millions of our people died for during the Civil War.

Those of you seeing all these things and turning a blind eye for fear of being attacked or insulted, you are helping to doom our noble ancestry with your silence. Speak out NOW!