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By Polycarp Nwaeke
‘Crucify him, crucify him’. That was the swan-song that came from the Lagos-Ibadan Press when Chukwudubem Onwuamadike, alias Evans, the so-called kidnap kingpin was arrested by the Nigeria Police.The guy, they said, had committed many heinous crimes by his kidnap of so many ‘bigmen’, including, ‘thieving’ Nigerian politicians, and so should be given jungle justice. There was no talk of deeming him innocent until proven guilty in a court of competent jurisdiction as the law requires.
It was not surprising that the Inspector-General of Police IGP, Ibrahim Idris Kpotum, encouraged by their jungle justice mentality announced that he was going to put Evans in detention for three months without trial.
Meanwhile, politicians who looted Nigeria dry and were arrested by the EFCC, including a one-time lawmaker who was captured in a video clip receiving bribe from a business mogul, and allowed to go scot-free.
Why was the Press baying for the blood of Evans when it allowed thieving politicians escape justice? Answer: Evans is an Igbo man while the other ones were from the favoured tribes, Hausa and Yoruba.
However, some Nigerian youths, particularly those from the Niger Delta were not fooled by the Yoruba Press’ demonization of Evans. They argued that Evans was the creation of the society and was happy that he indulged in the kidnap of high profile individuals, including politicians who stole Nigeria’s money and created indescribable sufferings for the masses. Evans, they said, was collecting some of what they stole from the people.
Come to think of it, despite the Muhammad Buhari administration’s avowed fight against corruption, politicians have continued to indulge in lucre, even as some of them, charged and arraigned for corruption, were being discharged and acquitted.
Example is the Senate President, Bukola Saraki who was arraigned for corrupt enrichment at the Code of Conduct Tribunal CCT. The other day, all charges against him were quashed and he was asked to go home, having been found ‘innocent.’ Our vibrant and critical Press did not see anything wrong with his acquittal, nor raise eyebrows over it.
Now, Evans has said he was going to expose top security operatives and high ranking individuals in the society who were accomplices in the alleged crimes he committed. Instead of the Yoruba Press to hammer on this and encourage him to expose them, they were busy demonizing Evans on the pages of their newspapers and encouraging his trial.
While they are busy running down Evans, a lot of critical issues are being swept under the carpet. At the moment, nobody seems to be in charge of affairs in the country even though Yemi Osinbajo had been asked to coordinate activities. Everybody can notice that there is a lull in political and economic activities in the country. Our robust Yoruba Press is not looking at this, or wondering how Nigeria has become a country that is being governed by proxy.
Presently, Nigeria’s Presidential jet is parked somewhere in London waiting for a sick president to recover, so that it could be used to ferry him home. Meanwhile, demurrage on the parked aircraft is mounting every day. The presidential spokesman, Garba Shehu has said there is nothing wrong in parking the aircraft there for a sick president, stressing that it is a standard practice all over the world.
Our critical and all-knowing Lagos-Ibadan Press does not see anything wrong in wasting tax-payers’ money by parking that presidential jet there. It is only cries of Evans, crucify him! The same way they had devoured Evans, that’s the same way they are treating IPOB, Nnamdi Kanu and Biafra.
All over the world, agitation for self-determination, especially under oppressive regimes is allowed. Late Nelson Mandela and the people of South Africa indulged in struggle for self-determination for years before they eventually secured freedom from white oppressive rule.
Back home in Nigeria, our Ogoni brothers and sisters have been agitating for self-determination. Theirs even claimed the life of one of their most illustrious sons, late Ken Saro-Wiwa. In the two examples stated, the Press encouraged and supported them, knowing that oppression and injustice dehumanizes the people.
IPOB and Nnamdi Kanu are saying that successive Nigerian governments have treated the Igbos like slaves since the end of the war. Gowon had declared that there was ‘no victor, no vanquished’ at the end of the war and instituted his famous three ‘Rs’ — Reconciliation, Reconstruction and Rehabilitation, geared towards putting the devastated Igboland on the track of development. But the programme was never put to action, and so Igboland has remained devastated except for the efforts of few individuals who decided to rebuild infrastructure using the personal finances.
The cry of the people is not only that Igboland has remained devastated, but that successive Federal Governments have not allowed Igbo men and women to use their God-given talents to develop themselves and the society as a result of hurdles put in place to obstruct them.
Nnamdi Kanu and IPOB are saying that Ndigbo can no longer accept this, hence their peaceful agitations to bring back Biafra. The agitations have been peaceful so far and have culminated in a series of events that indicate that the people are eager to have their own country, Biafra.
Since the agitation started, Kanu and IPOB had declared series of holidays to remember Biafra’s fallen heroes who died during the Nigeria\Biafra war and the people obeyed it.
However, the most successful programme the Indigenous People of Biafra IPOB and Kanu have carried out so far was their sit-at-home order to all Igbos in the South-East on May 30th, 2017 to remember the death of Biafrans who were killed during the war. The order resulted in the shutdown of the whole South-East states and parts of South-South. The success of the sit- at-home order enraged the North, causing the Arewa Youths to issue quit notice to all Igbos living in the North to leave.
While the international media, including BBC celebrated the success, peaceful nature of the event and the ingenuity of Nnamdi Kanu in carrying it out, the Yoruba Press criticized Kanu severely and even insinuated that he was plotting to start another civil war. Some of the newspapers even said Arewa Youths’ quit notice was an appropriate response to Kanu’s stay-at-home-order.
In the past, such peaceful protests had resulted in the shooting and killing of innocent Igbos by the military\police because they were done in the open, but during the May 30 order, not a single soul was seen outside in the South-East, and so security operatives could not see anybody to kill.
That was why the whole show enraged the Arewa youths and resulted in the heap of rubbish the Yoruba Press dished out to the public.
While they took turns to vilify Nnamdi Kanu and IPOB, they are now celebrating the positive results their agitations have brought to the polity. The vilifers are now rejoicing that there are persistent calls for restructuring, true federalism, implementation of the National Conference Report and other reforms that can help move Nigeria forward as an entity.
If the reforms being talked about now were implemented, are they going to be for the benefit of only Nnamdi Kanu and Igbos?
This is why Nigeria Press should rise above parochial interests and support peaceful agitations, especially those that have the capacity to bring goodies to the people.
