Nnamdi Kanu: How did we get here? -By Gimba Kakanda

Gimba Kakanda

Sahara Reporters has published videos of unjustifiable cruelty, in fact there’s no word for the barbarism, in the southeast, all of them not unusual. One is a video of Nigerian soldiers forcing alleged members of IPOB to drink from muddy water, another a video of alleged IPOB members in Aba stopping buses to ask for the “Hausa” (a generic name for northern Muslims, those kaftan-wearing abokis) – of course they were not asking to give them medals.

The question we should be asking is how we got here. I’ve appeared even on TV and radio, from Amadin Joseph Uyi’s Command Centre on Silverbird TV to Blessing Kimberly Nwachukwu’s Roundtable on Nigeria Info FM, to condemn human rights violations by Nigerian soldiers – especially them, but all military and paramilitary agencies in Nigeria are alike. They are not bound by any law. And that’s the only explanation for the extrajudicial killings of the Shiites in Kaduna, that explains Zaki Biam massacre, that explains Odi massacre, and all such transgressions enabled by government expected to preserve human rights and dignity.

We got here because we are divided in our advocacies for a sane country, along ethnic lines, along religious lines, along sectarian lines, along geography and even political convenience. What we haven’t exactly figured out is, if we don’t rise up to challenge dehumanizing of fellow citizens in the sense revealed in the video, it will be our turn soon, and there won’t be anyone but ourselves speaking for us.

And while we are at this, let’s be true to ourselves, and agree that Nnamdi Kanu has not only crossed the so-called national redline, he’s crossed the border of decency in advocating secession from the state of Nigeria.

The pro-Biafra campaigner has a right to dissent with the affairs of the country, but what Kanu is doing isn’t expressing rights to freedom of thought, assembly, religion, conscience or any fancy name you wish to call his brand of extremism, it’s an outright insurrection, a terrorism.