With the Federal High Court in Abuja scheduled to decide on December 13 whether the Chief of Army Staff, Lt-Gen Tukur Buratai, should be asked to account for the whereabouts of separatist Nnamdi Kanu, the drama of disappearance is not about to end.
Since Kanu disappeared while on bail, his sureties have been asked to account for his whereabouts, but they seem not to know. The controversial leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) was granted bail by a Federal High Court on April 25, after many sympathetic voices had called for his release from prolonged detention for separatist activities. Kanu is facing trial for “alleged offences of conspiracy to commit acts of treasonable felony and other related offences.”
Kanu’s lawyers argue that Buratai should be made to produce him because he allegedly disappeared during an operation by soldiers, which they described as “a murderous raid, where live and mortar bullets were fired on unarmed and defenceless people, leaving 28 persons dead.” They said in their motion: “The invading soldiers who had direct contact with the applicant on this fateful day (September 14, 2017) should be in a position to produce the applicant before the court. It is either the respondent’s rampaging soldiers abducted the applicant during this raid or killed him in the process.”
It is unclear whether this is an opportunistic claim, following “Operation Python Dance,” a military exercise in the Southeast during which “rampaging soldiers” allegedly invaded Kanu’s house in Afara-Ukwu Ibeku, Umuahia, Abia State.
After Kanu’s mysterious disappearance, a former governor of Abia State, Orji Uzor Kalu, supplied information about his whereabouts: “Kanu was not taken away by the military. Kanu went to Malaysia from where he travelled to the United Kingdom. Nnamdi Kanu is in London right now as we speak. He was not arrested by anybody. He left the country on his own. One of his relations has spoken to me and explained everything because I wanted to see him and talk to him wherever he was and see how I could meet some Federal Government officials on his issue. I also wanted to see ways of talking to the President about him, and find common ground but his family told me that he has left the country, unless they are lying to me. I believe, whether he had left the country or not, he is not with the military because I asked the Commander of the 14 Brigade, Brig.-Gen. A.K Ibrahim, who is a very fine and good soldier, well educated and dedicated, and he told me that they don’t know his whereabouts and I am sure, the Department of State Services have the same information. I also visited the commissioner of police and he said he didn’t know his whereabouts and that they are also looking for him.” This information was rubbished by Kanu’s group and his lawyers.
This was followed by news of an announcement that “Mazi Nnamdi Nwanekaenyi Kanu, the former Director of Radio Biafra is hereby dismissed and removed as Director of Radio Biafra following extensive and intensive consultations.” The announcer named one “Mazi Ezenwachukwu Sampson Okwudili as Kanu’s replacement.” Kanu was accused of: “Personalisation of the Biafran struggle and derailing from the core objectives of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) as a grassroots movement.”
There were other accusations against Kanu: “Kanu’s actions and his decisions to incite members of IPOB towards violence leading to the death of many innocent young people in Onitsha, Aba and Umuahia are totally unacceptable and grossly irresponsible. Kanu privately collected £14 million and another $22 million to purchase landed properties abroad in his name and that of his father, Igwe Israel Kanu, in a clear case of ‘monkey dey work baboon dey chop.’ He was also accused of failing to “drum up support for the release of his colleagues and co-detainees such as Chidiebere Onwudiwe, Benjamin Madubugwu and David Nwawuisi.”
IPOB rubbished the reported announcement in a statement by its media and publicity secretary, Emma Powerful: “For anyone to believe that faceless hitherto unheard of individuals can wake up one evening and announce the replacement of a man that commands 50 million people with presence in over 100 countries of the world, making him only second to Pope Francis as the personality with the largest cult following on earth, is plain stupid.” This characterisation of Kanu is striking for its hyperbolism. Who is expected to believe this picture of Kanu’s alleged global stature?
The proscribed group then dropped a bombshell: “We have all become accustomed to the crude antics of this shameless Nigerian Government and her security agencies that are so desperate to create confusion and pandemonium within the hierarchy of IPOB. That they came up with this ludicrous propaganda of the replacement of the irreplaceable IPOB leader is confirmation of their desperation.” Could it be true that the news was fabricated and planted by the federal government?
The sequence of events has not answered the question about Kanu’s whereabouts because Kanu has not reappeared. His disappearance needs to be demystified. It should not be a mystery. How long will this drama of disappearance last? Will Kanu resurface someday? How will that happen? What will he have to say when he reappears?
Before he disappeared, Kanu was characteristically rebellious when he addressed a crowd on August 27 at the Boys Technical College (BTC) on Faulks Road in Aba North Local Government Area of Abia State. According to a report, “He used the forum to reiterate that there would not be election in Anambra in November or any part of “Biafra Land” even in 2019, unless the group’s clamour for referendum got the blessings of government.” He was quoted as saying: “I’m a Biafran and we are going to crumble the zoo. Some idiots who are not educated said that they’ll arrest me, and I ask them to come. I’m in Biafra land. If any of them leaves Biafra land alive, know that this is not IPOB.”
Without him, days to the governorship election in Anambra State on November 18, IPOB was still flexing its muscles. Members of the separatist group marched around with a death threat in Onitsha, Anambra State, on November 3. They were quoted as saying: “If you vote you will die. Don’t go out, stay in your house. If you vote on November 18, you will die…There will be no election. We will not participate, we will not vote.”
The Anambra State governorship election has been lost and won, and Kanu is still nowhere to be found. What will happen next?
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