Sir Olayinka Agbetuyi,
Your tenacity is impressive and your sheer stamina ( more than fifteen paragraphs of applied Aristophanes) is admirable, just as your dignified forthrightness is equalled only by your politeness when you say to Barrister Kennedy Emetulu,"I have carefully gone over this well researched and well articulated long piece again and I must say it is a thought provoking pIece well worth the effort. That is without prejudice to my initial response which I still maintain."
These are sterling qualities, even presidential qualities whereas my own impatience ,Cornelius Ignoramus's scepticism, distrust and impertinence, all not without reason, is probably beyond repair. This very moment I'm stuck between two extremes – between " Have not the patience to ignore all that" and how some wise heads that are impervious to reason don't know how it feels to be thick as a brick
As for the subtle serpent and his crew, if their motto and intention is"Bring back our corruption" or the recycling of that school of thought and its advocates into the top positions of "power", the restructuring of such possibilities/ potentials could indeed presage the continuation of a never-ending tale or tail of corruption with impunity - corruption in perpetuity. Who knows, if Atiku wins ( he's unlikely to win) but if he does ( by hook and by crook, as they sometimes do) than it's possible that he could want to stay on forever, like 86-year old Paul Biya who has just won another seven year period , which means that he will be 93 years old when he decides to go for at least one more term during which he could celebrate his 100th birthday, still going strong as President of Cameroon....
In 1981, the late Senator Francis Ellah of Omoku spelled out some of the financial implications of the big restructuring idea when he proposed a bill which he wanted to pilot through the Rivers States House of Representatives. The mathematics was simple enough although I still can't vouchsafe the accuracy of his calculation: Of the then 19 States of the Federation, the then Rivers State generated 56% of Nigeria's total oil revenue ; based on his calculation, 13 new states could be carved out of Rivers State alone, and then each of the (13 +19 states) could receive an equal share of the Federation's budgetary allocation. All based on " derivation" politics. The question remains: before oil , how was the burden shared? And after all the oil dries up, what then? Ideally, the Biafra-ists would like to incorporate all the oil wells - all the on and offshore deposits in Cross Rivers, Akwa Ibom, Rivers, Bayelsa and Delta , into what they dream of as future Sovereign Biafra territory. They assume this kind of collective (euphoria) thinking and that a referendum or two or three in all those territories could solve most difficulties ( all kinds of consensus and agreement at the negotiating table) but in fact anyone's exit from Nigeria could be a lot more complicated than Brexit...
The snake eternally swallowing own its tail is sometimes not different from "a meaningless ring" - Atiku as suitor to the Nigerian people wants to seduce the youth with promises of restructuring paradise for them and it's the same never ending tale : engagement-ring, wedding-ring , suffer-ring. I may be naïve in thinking that what's being referred to as "restructuring" is but the first stage to making all kinds of concessions to "regional autonomy". It's not impossible that if Herr Atiku becomes the husband and the Igbos become his wife, contrary to all the campaign promises they could probably be in for some more shuffering and that's why the Biafra-ists want some assurances before Atiku consummates the marriage with Obi and his people, that the marriage ( and the shuffer-ring) is going to be short-lived , a maximum of one term only, muta ( temporary) not permanent, as in for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, until death do they part.
( On a lighter side, I'm not sure if this is a Yoruba term or not but this video illustrates the meaning of "ashasha" in Krio …
BTW, I am beginning to hate Brother Nathanael
On Monday, 29 October 2018 15:08:51 UTC+1, OLAYINKA AGBETUYI wrote:
You mean the (snake's) tail is never ending?(pun observed)OAA
Sent from my Samsung Galaxy smartphone.
-------- Original message --------From: Cornelius Hamelberg <cornelius...@gmail.com>Date: 29/10/2018 11:41 (GMT+00:00)To: USA Africa Dialogue Series <usaafric...@googlegroups.com >Subject: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Re: NNAMDI KANU AND THE DICTATORSHIP OFCLOUD CUCKOO LAND
...Kennedy Emetulu ,
You must admit that that was quite a lengthy piece of the discreet
You expect someone to have both time & patience to read all of it
terminating in your predictable, shameless hustle for your messiah
Alahji Atiku & your St. Peter Obi who you want installed at Aso Rock
to do your clan's bidding, believing that Atiku will lead you to Biafra
the Promised Land, just like that?
True, ( According to Pope)
" 'Tis hard to say, if greater want of skill
Appear in writing or in judging ill;
But, of the two, less dang'rous is th' offence
To tire our patience, than mislead our sense."You can't say that I didn't try. I waded through what I thought was a great preamble to Trump building the wall.
Something to warm the cockles of the heart: Timeline
Like a snake swallowing its own tail, my favourite Swedish bard began , ( W.H. Auden translation)
"The tale is never ending
It begin where it ends."
So, let me begin where your speculation came to a final full stop: The last I heard about Nnamdi Kanu is that he resurrected and then ascended to heaven, shortly after his disappearance. So when you say in the present tense, "if Nnamdi Kanu understands the issues properly" I suppose that what you actually mean to say is " wherever he may be presently, if Nnamdi Kanu is capable of understanding the issues properly...he would see that the best thing he can ever hope for is what the Atiku-Obi ticket is offering "
Like hell he would see what you see as "the best thing he can ever hope for" Personally, I think that Brother Nnamdi should be more inclined to put all his faith and trust in the Almighty, rather than in one Alhaji Atiku, given the Alhaji's track record. Of course, you won't have to wait too long : time will surely tell.
In the meantime, whilst you are waiting – with great expectation - for your dream to come true you want to do the thinking for Nnamdi Kanu and hope thereby that he will arrive at the same conclusion and the same belief that "Atiku has proved an enduring advocate of restructuring and his campaign is based on that." Don't you know that in his hour of need Atiku will promise you heaven, if need be, to get to where he wants to be?
"Ay, did you know
Some songs can corrupt your flesh to dust
The only song you should live
Are songs that you can trust " ( Life is for Learning)You could speak to us all more plainly, there is after all the proverbial Igbo wisdom
Some more of that wisdom : " Never let a politician grant you a four: he will always want to control you forever " ( Bob Marley)
"Friend of this world = enemy of God", that's what the Preacher-man shouted at Prince Abaye and me one early Sunday morning in Bakana, as we approached the entrance of the Church, Prince Abaye carrying his 100lbs cross, over his shoulders : " No you can't comer in here", the pastor averred, blocking the entrance to the church : " Friend of this world = enemy of God !"
Kanu? He wants to be in heaven. Unless of course he wants to follow the advice of the late Kwame Nkrumah: " Seek ye first the political kingdom and all else shall be added unto you"
Was that Kanu's voice that you heard? Are you sure?
Since 414 B.C. human nature hasn't changed that much , not even after the continuous impact of 24-hours-a-day electricity. Culture, yes, but human nature, not that much,especially not that much in apocalyptic Naija which is the crucible and the context where the political plot is hatched, "multiplying the wealth of others "
The advice was "Circumspection and respect! You learn that from your enemies."?Who were/ are Jesus' enemies?
Brother Nathanael sounding off here
Here's a much more kind and humble Farid Attar: The Conference of the Birds
On Sunday, 28 October 2018 20:07:51 UTC+1, keme...@googlemail.com wrote:
..
Gum Cock (To the birds): Go, go, go, go! Ddd-dig your beak into them! Rrr-run, ddd-drag them, ttt-tear at them, smash them! Knock down that kkk-kettle there first! Move, move, move, mmmmm!
Hoopoe (Rushes out of the cave and, in full armour and with his body guards, intervenes angrily and speaks to Gum Cock): Oi! You mongrel of a bird! You ugly terror of a bird! What the hell are you trying do? Why do you want to mutilate –kill even!- two men who've done nothing to you and who are my wife's relatives and who are my kinsmen?
Gum Cock: You mean we should tttt-treat them more leniently than we ttt-treat www-wolves? What enemies are www-worse than these two are there to take revenge on?
Hoopoe: And what if, in fact, they're enemies only by nature but really friends by heart and mind? And what if, by making friends with them you may learn something which is useful to you?
Bush Tucker Bird: How could these two ever teach us anything or advise us on anything? They were enemies since the days of our grand dads!
Hoopoe: Because, Bush Tucker Bird, wise men learn a great many things from their enemies. Such as circumspection. You see, circumspection is a marvellous thing! It can save you from all your problems. Circumspection! Now, that's a lesson you can't learn from a friend. Circumspection and respect! You learn that from your enemies. It's the first lesson you learn from them! Friends don't teach you how to build tall walls and splendid warships. Enemies do. And these high walls and splendid warships keep your kids and household and property safe. That's a lesson you learn from enemies, not friends!
————- (Act 1, The Birds, a play by Aristophanes, performed in 414 BC)
Humanity has left us with so many lessons over the ages. That is why I love Greek fables and ancient Greek thinkers because in their stories and their writings, they dealt with the whole gamut of human questions about existence, about life and death and the purposes of both, about will, desire, ambition, destiny, communal progress, democracy, power, wisdom, regeneration and so on. In fact, I am of the firm belief that there is no issue we are dealing with in contemporary times that the ancient Greeks haven't addressed.
Nnamdi Kanu is back and after listening to his bombastic speech of Sunday, 21st of October 2018, it made me recall one of my favourite Greek playwrights, Aristophanes and his play, The Birds, which is the play from which we've derived the popular phrase, "Cloud Cuckoo Land", the literal translation of Nubicuculia, which is the birds' city-in-the-sky. It is a comedy featuring two Athenians, Pisthetaerus (Persuasive-Companion) and his friend, Euelpides (Sanguine) who have become disenchanted with life in Athens where society has become bogged down by too many conflicts and communal wranglings. So they decide to go look for Tereus, a Thracian king transformed into a Hoopoe by the Olympian gods as punishment for a crime. They believe he will help them in their quest for a better life elsewhere. Guided by their pets, a jackdaw and a crow, they finally find Tereus in the form of a Hoopoe who is happy to chat with them about their plight.
In the course of the chat, the Hoopoe makes recommendations of cities for them to go live happily. Euelpides accepts and rejects some, but he then goes on to ask the Hoopoe what life is like among the birds. The Hoopoe responds that life is easy and free. Euelpides' question and the Hoopoe's response inspire Pisthetaerus, the cleverer and wiser of both men, to come up with an idea. He proposes that the birds flying around aimlessly build themselves a great city in the sky which would allow them rule over men, their enemies on one hand and on the other hand, blockade the Olympian gods. Knowing that the birds have been seeking freedom for a long time, the Hoopoe buys the idea and offers to help in its implementation. But, he explains that it is the duty of the two men to first convince all the other birds. He summons the birds from their different abodes, but once the birds see the men, they take a fighting stance and the men are forced to protect and defend themselves with some kitchen utensils they find outside the Hoopoe's bower.
The excerpt above is from the fight scene. Gum Cock rallies the birds for an assault on the humans, but just as they are about to attack, the Hoopoe rushes out to intervene, angrily questioning the wisdom of fighting or killing people he says are relatives of his wife and who are also his kinsmen. Gum Cock questions why they should spare humans who are worse than wolves, humans who are mortal enemies of the birds. At that point, the Hoopoe gives a great lesson in wisdom and strategy, pointing out that people can be enemies by nature, but friends by heart and mind. He talks about the possibility of learning something from enemies you make into friends. When the Bush Tucker Bird, still belligerent, questions what they could possibly learn from such long-time enemies, the Hoopoe tells him that "wise men learn a great many things from their enemies". He tells them that two such things you only learn from your enemies are circumspection and respect. "Friends don't teach you how to build tall walls and splendid warships. Enemies do. And these high walls and splendid warships keep your kids and household and property safe. That's a lesson you learn from enemies, not friends!", he declares.
Basically, the story is about wisdom and circumspection. Pisthetaerus uses these and his negotiating skills to get the birds to buy into his plan. He cajoles them with praises, declaring that they are actually the original gods and that the Olympians are mere latter-day usurpers. The birds are completely bowled over and soon they are calling on the Athenians to lead them in war against the Olympians. Once he began to gain their trust, he puts his friend to work to oversee the building of the city walls while he begins a religious service in worship of the new gods, the birds. In the classic mode of Old Comedy, at this time many unwelcome visitors, offering different things come and go. This is a device to portray the wisdom of Pisthetaerus as he deals with the different challenges presented by these unwelcome visitors.
A key visitor is Prometheus, a Titan, who's said to have created man from clay. He's said to have defied the gods by stealing fire and giving it to humanity, which became the basis of human progress and civilization. He comes under the cover of an umbrella, so Zeus, his enemy wouldn't see him from the heavens. He gives Pisthetaerus a piece of intelligence that reveals the Athenian's plan is having an effect as planned. He says the Olympians are starving due to the fact that the normal sacrifices men offer them aren't reaching them anymore and that at this point, they want a peace treaty with Pisthetaerus. But Prometheus's advice to Pisthetaerus is that he should not negotiate with them until Zeus gives him his sceptre and lover, Sovereignty (Basileus), who is the real power in Zeus's household.
Soon, Zeus sends a delegation of three ambassadors comprising the elegant Poseidon, the powerful Heracles (Hercules) and the crude Triballos, the god of the barbarians. While Poseidon is busy correcting Triballos's poor dressing as an ambassador, Heracles cannot hide his desire to "to throttle the man who built all these walls to keep the gods out!" When Poseidon reminds him that they are there to negotiate, his retort is that the fact they are there to negotiate is "twice the reason for throttling the bastard… whoever he is!" But by the time the negotiation starts, the wily Pisthetaerus outfoxes Poseidon by getting Heracles to support his demands while getting the famously powerful visitor to also threaten Triballos into voting with them against Poseidon. The emissaries have no choice but to accept Pisthetaerus's terms. He is proclaimed king by heavenly herald, handed Zeus's sceptre by Sovereignty and the play closes on the happy note of their wedding.
There are many analyses of the play and many interpretations. Aristophanes wrote and performed the play at a critical time in Athenian and Greek history (414 BC), which was during the Sicilian Expedition (415-413 BC). Though the Athenians were yet to lose the war when the play was first performed, the conduct of the war and the decisions being taken by the political leaders in prosecuting it were already creating divisions and tensions in Athenian society. From the expedition being put under the joint command of two generals, Alcibiades, who supported the campaign and Nicias who didn't, it was bound to be chaos all the way. Add to that religious extremists seeking scapegoats who then organised for Alcibiades to be brought back from the front to stand trial for anti-religious activities leading to the general escaping to the enemy side. The political strife was shaking Athens to its very foundations, so two Athenians escaping into the fantasy world of birds and holding the great Olympians to ransom and generally having a great time away from all the troubles of Athens was a popular diversion for theatregoers.
But the play is a true political allegory. Indeed, the Sicilian Expedition was a Cloud Cuckoo Land mounted on the back of a politically hubristic Athenian state drunk on jingoism. Whatever the interpretation, I have personally seen the play mainly in the light of the excerpt I have used to headline this piece because of the profoundness of the philosophy behind those words and how they run through the play as the binding and defining force of its moral reflection. That is why as I listened to Nnamdi Kanu boast about his indestructibility, his threat of bringing hell to Nigeria, his proclamation that he is not a Nigerian, his umbrage against those he considers enemies and his threat to hunt them down, I shook my head. I shook my head listening to him proclaiming his supposed covenant with God about Biafra, his association of Biafra and its realisation with his person, his paradoxical conflation of selfishness, martyrdom and messianic illusions, his lack of appreciation of the moment and his total misreading of history. I couldn't help but remember those words of the Hoopoe in The Birds as I pondered on his demagoguery and posturing. Nnamdi Kanu has not learnt circumspection and respect from those he considers enemies and you can't but think that like Icarus, he's flying too close to the sun now.
You cannot also help but see him as a lonely, tragic figure mired in his own hubris. His near deification by uniformed, starry-eyed followers who think anything he utters is divine has made him begin to believe his own hype. When you are in that zone, the value of friendship and comradeship would be lost to you because no one around questions what you say or think. They are all automatons doing your bidding as though ordered by God. It makes you wonder who he talks to and who he confers with. In The Birds, the real strength of Pisthetaerus is not his cleverness or wisdom, but his friendship with the goofy Euelpides who isn't contesting any intellectual space with him, but whose genuine, earthy friendship keeps Pisthetaerus grounded and real. By being true to each other, teasing each other and pointing out each other's weaknesses, the clever Pisthetaerus is able to appreciate what matters. The play is a fantasy, but the friendship is real because that is the real base for understanding the challenges and the enemies they face. Kanu has no Euelpides in his crew, he only has yes men and sycophants.
Kanu's broadcast was hard to 'watch' and harder to listen to. It was not an uplifting sight to see this grandly announced broadcast appear as three cheap Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) posters topped by a little flag on the rundown window of a small office or room overlooking a street supposedly in Jerusalem or somewhere in Israel. The more curious aspect of the whole thing was that Nnamdi Kanu, the celebrated broadcaster, shied away from the camera in the dingy room (if indeed he was there), never once showing his face as he carried on with a combination of a pretentious kick-and-start imitation of an Odumegwu Ojukwu oratorial delivery and the thuggish growling of a street fighter, intermittently shouting, possibly for effect.
The 'video', which as it turned out was just an audio went on for about an hour twenty five minutes, but just about 50 minutes of that were used for the actual recording of the broadcast with the rest time spent on a soporific Nnamdi Kanu praise-singing and a bit of clowning around with a poster by someone we can only assume is an IPOB activist. Also, of the 50 minutes, only about 30 minutes can be said to contain the actual message and even that gets further reduced by repeated self-praise and delusional utterings. More disappointing is the fact that the broadcast itself had nothing substantial. It was mostly a mixed gruel of personal complaint, Jewish worship, greetings, thanks to some people and threats against the Nigerian state. It was pantomime stuff without the jokes.
Here's an excerpt of what I think is the most important part of the broadcast:
"….I went to Ohafia as I recounted earlier, ready to appear in court the next month. They know I'm not afraid of them and can never be; they are the ones who are afraid of me. Suddenly, the Nigerian state terrorist apparatus was unleashed on me and my family with the intention to kill me. Sadly and very sadly, some segments of the Nigerian media have chosen to play this down or to ignore it. Sometimes, they comment and say "allegedly" How sad for Nigerian journalism.
"Their intention was to kill me to ensure I didn't make it to court. They know if I go to court, that very country will never be the same again! To cover their shame, they hastily arranged to kill me. They asked me to call off Anambra election boycott and I said no. I told South-East governors I will not call it off until you bring me something tangible from Abuja! Go and get me a date for a referendum and I will call off the boycott but there was no date for the referendum, there was nothing tangible at all about devolution! You want me to call off the boycott and I said no. They arranged to have me killed, then they can continue to enjoy their 'One Nigeria'.
"They didn't want me to make it to court to prove my innocence, to prove that they have no case against me. As I told them then and as I tell them now, Nigeria cannot jail me. I will fight this very case. When that failed, they deployed every mischief to frustrate every effort I made to get this very case going. Part of their strategy was to ensure the court will hold no hearings on the peculiar circumstances of my unavailability. A cho kwam su ok'oyibo mako nd'ine. But they succeeded at it. Now Binta Nyako's court is yet to hold a hearing about the circumstances or what led to the Nigerian army to come to my house to kill 28 people. I make bold to state that my forced unavailability deserves a court of law (not in a kangaroo court) where all the details will be ventilated to determine the legal impact of that very attack on my inability to make myself available to the court as was required. That such a hearing was ever allowed to happen in Binta Nyako's court is utterly disappointing and that specifically is what is causing the present impasse.
"As someone out on bail, why would the Nigerian government come to kill me and pretend or lie through their teeth that I jumped bail when I am a ward of court and therefore deserve the protection of the court throughout the duration of my trial? Had the court found it fit to have such a hearing, had this very court demonstrated by way of an order that I should not be shot on my way to court, we would not have this very impasse. But they know the truth, but they concealed it; they hide it because Nigeria is of wickedness.
"I will return to my land of Biafra, I am not a Nigerian. I renounced everything to do with Nigeria on or around December of 2015. I am a Biafran and I hold British citizenship. Only upon a clear pronouncement of the intentions of that very court which I suggest to them should be free of any interference from the executive will this very case move forward. The circumstances surrounding the invasion of my house, the invasion of the home of His Royal Majesty, Eze Israel Okwu Kanu. You must know my father's name is Israel and that means a lot. Going forward, there must be guarantees by the international community so that this case can proceed and I will prove once and for all that there is something fundamentally wrong with the brain of those that run….
"For now let me restate my position that I committed no offences known to law. What they are charging me with doesn't exist and they know it! I have no weapon; my only weapon is the microphone and my courage that Chukuwu Okike Abiama gave me. But it is up to those who persecute me to see reason to call their troops home. Let me state also categorically that IPOB worldwide is committed to the liberation of the land of Biafra from the shackles of tyranny and we will not relent until a referendum is conducted. If you want us to do anything with you, if you want us to conduct any form of participation in whatever it is that you are doing, there must be a referendum to decide the quest for self-determination for Biafrans. That is our red line, it is not….We intend to achieve our goal through any means recognised by national and international laws.
"My fellow Biafrans, my compatriots, please indulge me to sincerely thank the state of Israel, the persecuted Jewish community in Biafraland and Israel and worldwide who through their prayers and actions contributed in no small measure in assuring my physical safety and wellbeing. May Chukwu Okike Abiama bless the land of Biafra, may Chukwu Okike Abiama bless the state of Israel. Our destiny is before us and nothing is going to alter that very path. South-East and South-South are one and Delta. There is nothing like South-South, there is nothing like South-East. All we have is Biafra…."
Now, let's look at the substantive issues raised by Kanu in his broadcast and by his reappearance.
(1) Legality:
So far, everything Nnamdi Kanu has said about how the government has treated him and IPOB before the law is right. The government employed precipitate and unnecessary force against him and IPOB, they acted in bad faith by attacking him while he was still on bail and before he was due in court leading to his disappearance for 13 months and there were no grounds and still there are no grounds to declare IPOB a terrorist organization. In the past, I have discussed the illegality of some of government's actions in some of the links I've provided at the end of this piece.
(2) Why now?
Before his reappearance on October 19 2018, the last we knew of Nnamdi Kanu was that he was at his home in Afara-Ukwu in Abia State when the Nigerian army raided the place on September 14 2017. After the raid, apart from sketchy reports about killings of some IPOB activists who were there at the time, what we knew for a fact was that after the whole thing, Nnamdi Kanu, his dad and his mum were declared missing. Though thereafter the Nigerian army declared that none of the three persons were killed or in their custody, the nation was not convinced.
There were two events concerning Kanu that were coming up before the raid. He was due to appear in court in October 2017 to face charges of treasonable felony and as at the time of the raid, he was on bail. Then there was the Anambra governorship election coming up in November 2017. Kanu and IPOB had called for a boycott of the election. The speculation was that the Nigerian Army acted to undermine Kanu and IPOB's capacity to disrupt the election. In all, it was a poor show by the government and with the disappearance of Kanu and his dad and mum, speculations were rife as to what had happened to them. But most of us believed that either they were being held at some secret location(s) by the government or they may have been killed.
However, both speculations were undermined by the total silence of Kanu's family. If Nnamdi Kanu and/or his parents were taken away or killed, why were the family and the community not making any noise about it? An associate of Nnamdi Kanu (or at least someone who knows him) with connections to the government, former governor of Abia State, Orji Kalu said Kanu had escaped through Malaysia to the United Kingdom, but he was generally lampooned for making such a claim because if indeed Kanu was in the UK, away from Nigeria, he would have had the freedom to speak as he was doing when he was outside the country. Besides, the UK government would not have been asking about his whereabouts after the raid as they did through their High Commission in Nigeria. There were also reports that he was sighted with his wife at a suya spot or bar somewhere in Accra, Ghana; but the wife was out publicly saying she had no idea of what happened to her husband during the raid or his whereabouts thereafter. We've also heard rumours that he was being held off the coast of Nigeria in some naval ship. In the midst of all that, Senator Eyinnaya Abaribe one of those who stood surety for Nnamdi Kanu's bail was under pressure from the government and the court to produce him. At the time, this was highly provocative because public opinion was staunchly against the government as most people felt this was pure political persecution as no one was in doubt that the government knew what happened to Kanu during and after the raid at his home.
This background is necessary to understand why Kanu will now suddenly resurface a few months before the election of 2019 and after the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has chosen a presidential flag-bearer, Atiku Abubakar who has picked a well-loved Igbo politician and businessman, Peter Obi as his running mate. The choice of Peter Obi has galvanized the nation and the South-East. Even attempts by some PDP political leaders in the South-East to put dampeners on the choice by publicly claiming they weren't consulted have been overwhelmingly criticized all over the nation. Erstwhile IPOB activists in the South-East are jumping onboard proclaiming that Obi's choice is recognition by the PDP and their presidential candidate that something needs to be done about Igbo marginalization. With Atiku Abubakar being the only candidate that has put restructuring top of his campaign agenda, there are many amongst erstwhile IPOB activists who believe this is a response to the yearning of the people for a fairer and working nation. In the face of the Buhari attempt to fly the false possibility of an Igbo taking the presidential ticket of the All Progressive Congress (APC) in 2023, this move by the PDP and Atiku Abubakar to put an Igbo man on the ticket has proved a substantive counter. Nigerians have also seen the deceit of the APC on this count when they recently listened to Raji Fashola claim that the Yoruba would get the presidency in 2023 if they reelect Buhari. We also know as a matter of fact that Bola Tinubu is supporting Buhari because they supposedly have an agreement that the latter would be handing over to him in 2023.
It is for the above reasons many Ndigbo and Nigerians see the reappearance of Kanu and his boycott campaign as a clear attempt to undermine the momentum of the Atiku-Obi ticket. Conspiracy theories are growing around his appearance precisely because of this. There are those who believe that he is being unleashed on the political space by the Buhari government and its security services who had held him incommunicado since that raid and who are still holding his parents. It is instructive that a few days before Nnamdi Kanu's reappearance, members of the Afara-Ukwu community paid the governor of Abia State, Okezie Ikpeazu a visit in which they discussed the fate of their traditional ruler, Eze Israel Okwu Kanu, Nnamdi Kanu's father with the governor promising the man would be back soon. So, the question is what does the governor know about the father's whereabouts to promise he would be back soon? Why is Nnamdi Kanu himself surfacing in public space after 13 months of total silence from him shortly after that comment by the governor? Why is Nnamdi Kanu not saying anything about his father and mother even as he talked about his Biafran Intelligence people saving him from the Nigerian army invasion? Did they also save his parents? He tells us he's in Israel (which is unlikely), but where are his parents? He mentioned his father in his broadcast, but only to emphasize that his name is Israel, so where is he? Where is his wife, Nnamdi Kanu's mother? Kanu definitely knows but the fact that he's not talking about them gives fillip to the idea of those who believe that those pushing him forward to do what he's doing now are holding his parents.
But what do I think? Like everyone else, I can only speculate, but when I do, I try to put pieces of information together to make informed conjectures. On the matter of why he has surfaced now, I can only say he's doing so to interject himself in the forthcoming election. He may have waited this long to show up to create some kind of mystery around his person and to achieve maximum impact in a period close to the election. Is he doing this to undermine the Atiku-Obi ticket? Yes. Is he doing it to help Buhari? Yes. Has he been conscripted by Buhari to do this? Not likely. The only thing governing Kanu at this stage is his agenda and he may have concluded that the Atiku-Obi ticket is stealing his thunder in the South-East. He obviously thinks that the election of the Atiku-Obi ticket with their restructuring agenda would render his campaign otiose, so insisting on still fighting his cause is a way to undermine them. And in trying to undermine them, he does not care that Buhari wins because Buhari offers him the type of opposition that amplifies his message. Nnamdi Kanu has no respect for what the larger Ndigbo outside IPOB thinks. He's that narrow-minded.
(3) Where has he been for 13 months?
He couldn't have possibly been in Israel despite his claims. The Israeli authorities through their Foreign Ministry have stated clearly that they have no record of him being in Israel recently. They suggested the video showed of him being in Israel is an old one. That also calls to question his claim that the broadcast was made from Jerusalem. The street showed from the window in the broadcast did not indicate anything that tells us it's Jerusalem or anywhere in Israel and another video supposedly showing him coming out of the broadcast studio surrounded by admirers and IPOB activists did not indicate the place is anywhere in Israel. In the light of these facts, we can only accept what the Israeli authorities have officially stated which is that he is not in Israel. The Israelis have no reason to lie if he's in Israel because as a British citizen, Kanu is free to enter Israel anytime he likes, three months at a time.
He couldn't have also possibly been in the United Kingdom because if he were there, the British authorities would have let the world know and the world press would have let the world know too that he's there. There is no way anyone with his fame or notoriety (depending on which you think it is) can be in London or anywhere in the UK without the world knowing. There is also no way he could have been there without trying to continue his campaign for Biafra since he's free to express himself along those lines anywhere in the democratic West.
I know that the Sunday Punch of the 28th of October 2018 is claiming that a Senior Communications Officer at the UK High Commission, Tinu Adelegan is saying they provided Emergency Travel Documents "to a British person who asked for one in Israel, which he has not used and has now expired". I believe this is part of Kanu's elaborate attempt to give the impression he is in Israel when in fact he isn't there. How did he get there in the first place without a passport or any valid travelling papers? Obviously, he's not there, but he's trying to give the impression he is there. He wants us to begin to think that he could only still be possibly in Israel without papers because the Israeli government has a hand in this whole thing. But the truth is if he's there, he wouldn't have had any reason not to use the Emergency Travel Documents he asked for to get to the UK (if indeed he needed them) and if he's there without valid papers, the Israeli government would say. They have no reason to keep Kanu hidden in Israel if Kanu himself is broadcasting to the world that he is in Israel. Israel has no obligation to deliver him to Nigeria.
Could he have been in Ghana as speculated? I doubt. I know that I've mentioned the stories about him being sighted with the wife somewhere in Accra, but that is the only sighting reported in Ghana. If there, he would have been sighted in more places because we have a sizeable Nigerian community in Ghana that he couldn't have possibly avoided them successfully for 13 months.
But I believe he could only have been somewhere in Africa all this while, that is assuming he was not held by the Nigerian authorities in some secret place only to be unleashed on us now. The reasons I do not accept the theory of him being held by the Nigerian authorities only to be unleashed now to disrupt the election in an attempt to work for Buhari's election are many, but let me just propose three. First, the Buhari government and its operatives are not sophisticated enough to pull off this type of operation without stepping over themselves and exposing it all in thirteen months. They could not have held Nnamdi Kanu for thirteen months in secret within mainland Nigeria or in some ship off our coast without Nigerians getting a wind of exactly where they're holding him and exposing this. Nnamdi Kanu and the issues he represents couldn't have been that successfully covered up. The second reason is that if the idea was to hold him and unleash him before an election, there are better and easier ways he could have been collaborating with Buhari to achieve that purpose. For instance, he and Buhari could have organized a sham talk to guarantee the Igbo vote. They could not have sat down for 13 months to plan what we have just seen from Kanu. The third reason is that Nnamdi Kanu is too egocentric to agree to the agenda of others but his own.
As I said, there is every reason to believe Nnamdi Kanu was not in the custody of the Nigerian government all this while, so this his new 'project' could not have possibly been planned with them. It's now obvious that he and his parents were evacuated from Afara-Ukwu before the army raid and if that is so, they could only have been taken out of Nigeria. The fact that we did not hear anything from him or know anything about his whereabouts in 13 months means that he was not in the West. That also means he must have been somewhere or in some country that does not want a diplomatic clash with Nigeria, which is the reason for the secrecy. I cannot look beyond West and Central Africa. I have ruled out Ghana. I will rule out Cameroon too because they have their own issues with separatists and certainly cannot have Nnamdi Kanu in that mix. Something tells me he's in Gabon. That is the only country with a family in power that has sympathy for the Biafran ca
Listserv moderated by Toyin Falola, University of Texas at Austin
To post to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue@googlegroups.com
To subscribe to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue+subscribe@googlegroups.com
Current archives at http://groups.google.com/group/USAAfricaDialogue
Early archives at http://www.utexas.edu/conferences/africa/ads/index.html
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "USA Africa Dialogue Series" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to usaafricadialogue+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
No comments:
Post a Comment