How could a people’s hero like Kanu disappear like a puff of smoke? This is a man who wanted to lead a nation. Is it a ploy by some folks to discredit him, maybe give the impression that if he had actually led his thousands of followers to war, he would have fled and left them all to their fate at the first sign of a battalion and tanks in front of his house.
Have you ever wondered if the federal government really cares about you? Do you think you’re only useful because you have a voter’s card?
Or, does thinking about whether the government likes you make you contemplate the Nigerian Police Force, where the fine men and women of the best Police in Africa tells you, “the Police is your friend”?
Have you seen the annual Christmas carol from the uniformed forces whipping through the social media? Doesn’t it make your head swell with pride that those charged with making your life better are in one yuletide video clip? Does it not warm your heart to remember the many times they’ve lessened your load by drilling a fine hole in your pocket?
Thinking about the dependable men and women of the uniformed forces does make you wonder how serious Nigeria takes the lives of her citizens. People tend to disappear and nobody even bothers to ask what happened to them. I know it’s Christmas season and folks are busy editing their contact lists, ordering paternity tests to determine if that kid is actually theirs and picking fights with girlfriends and wives. People, relax – we’re out of recession. Go spend and be merry!
The government’s pocket is definitely not light, not in this season of giving. I don’t think the Nigerian government has a gift list of a few cows and bags of rice with Nnamdi Kanu’s name as the recipient. Kanu definitely would not cost the taxpayer the load of dimes the keepers of the crown would spend on gifts for the kingmakers to ensure the crown remains on their heads come 2019.
For someone who would not cost the government a dime this Christmas, it is worrisome that no one has seen Kanu in three months and nobody is asking of his whereabout. The inspector general of police is begging Nigerians to embrace SARS and here I was all these years thinking SARS is a terrible disease. Ask the Generals where their best friend of yesterday is and you’re likely to get a “Kanu who? The attorney general is busy talking about a man called Maina who used to be manna from the villa for a select few.
The man who loves a microphone and camera has suddenly become camera shy and everyone thinks he’s merely going through a rite of passage. It’s troubling that in this season of goodwill when brothers must forgive their brothers for their past misdeeds and sisters must embrace their troublesome sisters-in-law, no one is bothered that the man who almost set the nation on fire has disappeared without trace.
I miss Kanu. In his blind grope in the dark for relevance, he raised vital issues that stretch the seams of this already fragile nation. You can toss all the issues into a basket, shake them up but you’re gonna get the same question Sunny Okosuns asked a long time ago, “which way Nigeria?”
Where are our manners, Nigerians? Where is that famed traditions that our parents injected into the eba and soup we swallowed as kids? Are we not supposed to be our brothers’ keepers? Is it not time we all ask with one voice – where is Nnamdi Kanu?
How could a people’s hero like Kanu disappear like a puff of smoke? This is a man who wanted to lead a nation. Is it a ploy by some folks to discredit him, maybe give the impression that if he had actually led his thousands of followers to war, he would have fled and left them all to their fate at the first sign of a battalion and tanks in front of his house.
I like Kanu. I thought he was a man you should follow with a reality show crew and tape as much absurdity as possible for the delight of post-dinner television audiences. The first time I noticed him was at a Nigerian event in London almost a decade ago. The man cut into the session, ran around the room with a Biafran flag and before you can name all the states in the South-East, he had promptly disappeared.
I’ve worked in that place they call overseas and I know the backwaters of politics. I knew what this was as I scanned the room for a camera trained on Kanu. This was a man in the clutch of some NGO or moneybags. What he had just done was to justify his next paycheck and he would have the little show on camera for his bosses.
He was a man to be laughed at and ignored. But, Nigeria is a theatre. He baited the government and the mighty federal government of Nigeria fell for it. They clamped him in detention and failed to try him. You know what happens when you dump manure in a room and shut the door? Eventually it stinks up the whole house. That’s what happened with the fella with a titling British accent.
I miss Kanu. In his blind grope in the dark for relevance, he raised vital issues that stretch the seams of this already fragile nation. You can toss all the issues into a basket, shake them up but you’re gonna get the same question Sunny Okosuns asked a long time ago, “which way Nigeria?”
You can follow Ose Oyamendan @iam_ose
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