Public affairs commentator, Mahdi Shehu, has accused South-East political leaders of quietly celebrating the conviction of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, leader, Nnamdi Kanu.
In a post on his official X handle on Thursday, Shehu said many of the region’s politicians played silent but significant roles in Kanu’s ordeal and are now relieved that a major political threat has been weakened.
Shehu claimed that some governors, senators, ministers and other political appointees from the region see Kanu as an individual capable of diminishing whatever popularity they claim to have.
According to him, these leaders kept their distance out of cowardice, fear, greed and betrayal, and are now privately congratulating themselves.
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He stated that with the conviction, many of them would have a peaceful night because the brother enemy is being tormented.
Shehu alleged that some of the politicians will hold quiet thanksgiving prayers in their private chapels to celebrate the outcome, claiming their biggest political rival has been suppressed.
“Mazi Kanu, their biggest political threat, has been convicted. Because they have achieved their aim of seeing him suppressed. Because they owe Tinubu an inordinate silence as a sign of approval for Mazi Kanu’s conviction.
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“Because their insatiable appetite will continue to grow until they meet their waterloo.”
Shehu also quoted Chinua Achebe, warning that no political leader is greater than the people they claim to represent.
He referenced Achebe’s words; “No man however great was greater than his people; no one ever won judgment against his people, and the death that will kill a man begins as an appetite.”
While insisting that Kanu will eventually regain freedom, Shehu compared his case with the treatment of other individuals who were once in conflict with the Nigerian state.
He mentioned names like Gani Adams, Asari Dokubo, Tompolo and some former Boko Haram commanders who, despite their roles in violence, later walked freely with state protection.
“It is just a matter of time that Kanu will be free in a country where Drug barons, arsonists, treasury looters, thieves, murderers, treasonable felons are set free under a doubtful Amnesty program full of nepotism and selectivism.”