For many who would have loved to attend yesterday’s protest, but were conflicted about whether we should demand for the freedom of Nnamdi Kanu, or grant him a fair and speedy hearing without any political delays according to the law, this is for you. This is for those young #EndBadGovernance protesters who are presently serving time in Borno after shadowy getting sentenced in court, and this is for the Abuja 11 #EndBadGovernance protesters who are still standing trials after over a year because of constant adjournments and delays in prosecution. This is for everyone who at some point have felt that the justice system (especially the courts) was at some point weaponised against them through the weapon of delay in justice.
Let’s compare and contrast. Simon Ekpa was arrested in Finland in November 2024 and by September 1, 2025, he had already been sentenced to six years in prison for promoting violence and supplying weapons to destabilize South East, Nigeria – weapons that killed average Igbo people who did not sign up for that ‘sacrifice’. In the case of Nnamdi Kanu, he was arrested from Kenya since June 2021, and he has spent over four years without a concluded trial because politicians want to play politics with his detention. Even Buhari who led the effort to arrest him from any part of the world is now dead. Yet, the man is yet to be sentenced. This is the real crux of the issue is this weaponisation of the institutions of justice that belongs to all of the Nigerian people.
For the avoidance of any doubt, I support the containment of any political actor that encourages sectarian violence against innocent masses who just wanted to go about their own life, and survive. This is the extent to which I also think a divisive figure like Charlie Kirk had it coming. What I take exception to is the method in which this political actors are contained. Are they contained by the innocent people seeking justice? Or are they being contained by an equally violent government that does not also respect any principle of justice, including simple court orders? And that government is even worse because they have much more ammunitions than what either Nnamdi Kanu or Simon Ekpa can supply, and they have much more authority over violent military forces that either of them can ever command. This is the real issue. In containing those who express their political dissent in a way the puts the majority of the masses at risk, are we empowering the people to do justice or are we legitimizing an #EndSARS and #EndBadGovernance murderer like Tinubu? Are we giving to a politician who wants to paint every peaceful protester as a terrorist? Or are we empowering the masses who can actually think though and empathize with the root causes of Kanu’s actions and what led to his grievances and then do justice in a way that protects society while trying to do justice to Kanu or contain Kanu restoratively, in a way that he is no longer a threat to either himself or the rest of society? These are the issues.
If we empower the Nigerian masses for justice, then we will realize that Tinubu, and Buhari before him, is imposition one dangerous assumption on us all – the assumption that Kanu’s speeches and actions are SOLELY responsible for the violence in the South-East. Before IPOB, there was MASSOB holding peaceful protests against the state violence unleashed on Igbo people. There was MASSOB organising their resistance inclusively with women who would sometimes get arrested while mourning their dead children in their black attires. They later resorted to naked protests to discourage the police from arresting them. There was a movement who was ready to go naked to stay true to their principle of peaceful resistance. Then, Peter Obi came along. Declared MASSOB a terrorist organization in Anambra state. Sicced Awkuzu SARS on anybody critical of his corrupt administration and blackmailed them as MASSOB terrorists, and Awkuzu SARS, based on the body language of the then-Governor that encouraged them, went ahead to start murdering those young people in what we now know as the Izu River massacre. This is the climate of repression that gave birth to a more violent and a more hateful IPOB. MASSOB was interested in peaceful self-determination, but rather than organize democratic protest IPOB and Nnamdi Kanu came with autocratic and violently-enforced Sit-At-Home declaration that has made many lose their lives and their livelihoods. This is where the Nnamdi Kanu phenomenon came from. This is where those Igbos who are opposed to the freedom of Nnamdi Kanu also came from. They blame Nnamdi Kanu for their losses but the root cause of the problem is the Nigerian state that has had a problem with conducting a SIMPLE DEMOCRATIC REFERENDUM for a section of the country to decide whether they want to stay or go! This is the very simple demand that started all these!
Nnamdi Kanu might have hurt a lot of other people and he should be held accountable for that, but if we leave that justice to Tinubu, are we not also using that as a basis for him to crush any dissenting opinion in Nigerian politics by equating them to Nnamdi Kanu. First, they will come for Nnamdi Kanu, but very soon they will come for the pregnant woman who reviewed a tomato paste online, and the only way to do that is to not concede any power to them and ask them to immediately conduct an open, democratic and fair public probe for Nnamdi Kanu in which the Nigerian masses and elected representatives across different interests groups across the country (including those in the South East) can contribute to the course of justice. THIS SHOULD BE OUR DEMANDS! This should be our demand. Not a delayed court trial that Tinubu and Wike can easily influence. If Nnamdi Kanu decides to work for Tinubu’s 2027 re-election today, the same people holding him now will easily release him to use him to subvert the electoral will of the Nigerian masses.
This prolonged detention of Nnamdi Kanu is only useful for those oppressing us. A public and democratic trial of Nnamdi Kanu will do more justice than the sentencing of Simon Ekpa in Finland can do. Putting power to do justice in the hands of the masses like this will actually reduce ethnic tensions, dismissals and confrontations, that Nnamdi Kanu’s prolonged detention and Nnamdi Kanu’s hate message represents. This is the line of action that can encourage more nuanced conversation within the masses about the issue. This is the line of action that can productive and conducive for meaningful dialogue. This is the line of action that will not shut down debate, whether by appealing the emotions of vengeance in the victims of Nnamdi Kanu or the emotions of action in those embarking on peaceful protests. This is the line of action that helps the education and empowerment of the masses on this issue, and this is the line of action that rejects the status quo of Tinubu as purveyor of justice. This is the line of action that is consistent with the principle of justice, liberation, and equality and that does not empower the narratives of government apologists on this issue. A PUBLIC DEMOCRATIC TRIAL OF NNAMDI KANU!!
Omole Ibukun
21-10-2025
Abuja, Nigeria
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