MAZI NNAMDI KANU: A NO SHOW AT COURT BUT STILL A VERY LUCKY MAN.

ICHEOKU says on a grand scheme of things, not being brought to court is still a much better option than being deep sixed or missing without a trace and being searched for by his family and the IPOB worldwide family. Therefore no matter how measured, weighted, diced and analyzed, being confined in the slammer for another three months until October 21st is still a far better outcome, the disappointment notwithstanding, than being in the bottom of the Indian Ocean or covered up by sand dunes of the Sahara desert or even in a shallow unmarked grave somewhere in Abuja. These were "options" available to the Nigeria gangster regime of Muhammadu Buhari, but they chose to bring him back to Nigeria alive to "continue" with his prosecution. 

So, the government or rather junta of Muhammadu Buhari can lie all they want that it was for lack of transportation or as they put it, "logistics" that frustrated their bringing Mazi Nnamdi Kanu to court, but time will eventually resolve all gray areas. Needless to add that they had "transportation" when they took him from Abuja airport following their successful abduction of him from Kenya to wherever hellhole they are keeping him in and also had "transportation" when they re-arraigned him in court shortly after bringing him back. But suddenly, all the vehicles at the disposal of the DSS became immobilized and none could transport Mazi Nnamdi Kanu to court despite that the DSS had about one month court notice since June 19th of the scheduled July 26th 2021 due date for his taking of plea. 

Like the full dictatorship which Muhammadu Buhari is gradually morphing into, disrespecting the court is usually a hallmark of dictatorships. They intentionally and purposely refused to bring Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, an accused who is in their custody and who was ordered to be brought to court in order for the court to take his plea. But the good news is that they have already admitted that they "intercepted" him and have already brought him to court once and also held a press conference and media sessions to chest-beat themselves on his capture. He is in their custody and his safety and upkeep is now their total responsibility. Ndigbo, IPOB, other meaningful Nigerians as well as the international community expect the Nigerian government to take this responsibility very seriously by protecting Mazi Nnamdi Kanu with every fiber of their being. 

Time flies by quickly and before too long October 21st will come around and hopefully then, they will have "transportation" with which to bring Mazi Nnamdi Kanu to court and produce him to take his plea. It is only delayed but cannot be avoided; admitted they did what they did just to defer the day certain and in order to punish him further with additional two months detention without trial in their attempt to break his will to carry on the Biafra struggle. But he is a man of great resolve and if his antecedents are any indicators, he will tough the two months out, convinced in the rightness of his cause and in order to continue presenting the face of a leader on whose shoulders lie the fate of over 80 million Biafrans yearning for freedom from the Nigeria State.

Anyway, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu is in fact actually lucky that he was taken alive from Kenya and brought safely alive back to Nigeria. That God shepherded him throughout is by itself a miracle worthy of celebration, his kidnap and 8 days of torture in Kenya and then the 5 hours flight from Nairobi to Abuja considered. He is merely in custody, but still breathing, still ingesting and still getting hydrated. Those mercenaries who lured him to the airport parking garage could have easily put a bullet in his head right there and left his body to be found later as a victim of unknown killers. They could also have killed him in captivity and dumped his body into the Athi river or Tana river; or even the Indian Ocean or put him in a roadside garbage dump to be trashed or discovered as another victim of gun violence in Nairobi. He could also have succumbed to the torture which lasted for 8 long days and his body promptly disposed. 

But none of these happened; he survived Kenya and was handed over to Nigeria authorities who came to Kenya and took him back to Abuja in a private plane. His handlers could have easily thrown him out of the plane over the desert of Sudan or Chad and no trace of him ever found; but they decided otherwise and proceeded to land him safely in Abuja. They could have also injected him with a heart attack inducing drug or lace his drink with cyanid on the plane and watch him die an agonizing  painful, slow death. Then, touched down and quietly bury him in an unmarked grave in Abuja and sworn to oath of secrecy, case closed. Thereafter, the government would make a renewed call for his capture or surrender, placing a fresh bounty of $500 million on his head as a reward for anyone who will give the government his current known address and/or help the government capture him and bring him back to Nigeria, aware that the bounty will never be collected. 

Any of these would have spared the Nigeria government the opprobrium for the method they used in bringing the IPOB leader back to Nigeria. However, the Nigeria government chose differently and brought him back alive to Nigeria which shows that the killing of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu was not their priority and primary objective. It is also possible that they brought him back alive to Nigeria purposely to satisfy their ego, show that it can be done and to send a strong message of the fate which awaits anyone who dares challenge the government. Further, that irrespective of their location or believe of personal invincibility, that the long arm of the Nigerian government can still reach them and grab them. 

It is possible too that they brought him back alive to Nigeria as a personal vendetta and to diminish him before his IPOB followers as now a captive of the "failed Zoological Nigeria State. That despite his braggadocio, he was still trapped and captured just like an ordinary rat by the same "failed zoological Fulani government of Nigeria." Yes indeed, the Nigerian government deflated Mazi Nnamdi Kanu by bringing him back to Nigeria alive, in handcuffs and leg chains, just like a common criminal. They made his capture personal, tired and frustrated with his calling Nigeria a "failed zoological republic" and constantly stating that Buhari was dead and buried in Saudi Arabia, and that one "Jubril el Sudan" is the impostor in Aso Rock. He became a pain in their butt and they became desperate to shut him up and then went all the way in to capture him.  

So, yes, governments all over the world have been kidnapping people, both their citizens and non citizens alike. Once, a government perceives or rather determines that a person has become a  security threat or too embarrassing to them, they make a play at nabbing the person or even permanently shutting the person up through assassination. So, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu is not the first person nor will he be the last person to be ever kidnapped by a government. Even before Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, Nigeria government under then military head of state Muhammadu Buhari  in 1985 attempted to forcefully bring Umaru Dikko back to Nigeria from London following a successful kidnapping of him. 

Not too long ago, four Iranian security agents were indicted in a New York court for their role in plotting to kidnap and forcefully return back to Iran an Iranian journalist Mash Alinejad, an activist and critic of the Tehran regime who lives in Brooklyn New York. Some other countries do not even tangle themselves with the niceties of kidnapping and forceful return of such dissidents; as they consider that too risky, a waste of time and needless expenditure of valuable resources. They simply neutralize them on the spot whenever the opportunity presents itself. Russia is one such country which does not border itself with such a waste of time. Poisoning of tea with isotopes, body contact delivered poisons and hanging them in a make believe suicide are some of their preferred methods of getting rid of such "nuisances" and "enemies" of the Russian State, 

In February 2017, North Korea secret agents assassinated the wanted brother of their Leader Kim Jong Un, Kim Jong-nam, with a VX nerve agent, a body contact poison, inside Kuala Lumpur International Airport, Malaysia. Lets not also forget the compromised tea which they gave MKO Abiola in Abuja in order to permanently shut him up over the unresolved June 12th mandate. Israel too does not bother bringing such targeted persons for elimination back home, they summarily just waste them wherever the opportunity presents itself, including their recent assassination inside Tehran of an Iranian nuclear chief scientist. The targeted assassinations of Abu Nidal and other Palestinian hitmen who carried out the 1972 Munich Olympics massacre of Israeli athletes are also on record.  

So, yes, all the circumstances considered, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu should consider himself a very lucky man as he could have been simply disappeared from the face of the earth, never to be seen or heard again from; forever silenced and frozen out without a trace. Countries regularly hunt down people who they feel are a threat to their national security or even perturbing their peace of mind; and yes, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu was one such person who Abuja was tired of his "pestilence" and wanted him shut up for good. So, they set a perfect trap for him and he recklessly walked into it. He was safely brought back to Nigeria and put in a dark, dank underground custodial detention, with no more access to the Internet and with that, he was put out of commission and out of circulation, at least for now. 

As he spends his time in detention, introspecting and thinking about his recklessness and that lapse in care for his personal security, going to meet some people at an underground parking garage in Nairobi Kenya, without bodyguards or other companions, he should also count his blessings that he survived the ordeal in Kenya and was brought back to Nigeria in one piece. It means that there is still hope that someday, he will still have the opportunity to continue with his freedom fighting. Although the ideal saying is that "he who runs away lives to fight another day," but as a correlative, he who is in detention will be freed someday to continue the fight; whenever that some day ends up being. All he can do now is to keep maintain his sanity, keep hope alive, and pray that law and political pressure, nationally and internationally, would persuade the Nigerian government to curb their vengeance. 

Where there is life, there is hope. He will still have an opportunity of continuing his fight for Biafra liberation and possibly someday, live to see his dream come through with a Biafra restored. But he should now focus his energy on surviving detention and not fret too much about any other thing, including any fantom rescue or a British intervention which will spring him out of detention.    It is possible too that the British government and Kenya government and Nigeria government planned and orchestrated the whole thing. Fearing backlash in London, 10 Downing Street possibly want to end the tension being generated in Nigeria by signing off on his abduction as governments do all sorts of wheeling and dealing beneath the surface. 

Anyway, ICHEOKU still commends the Nigerian government for not being blood thirsty ruthless by sparing the life of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu and bringing him back safely to Nigeria. Hopefully, the government will allow the courts the free hand to determine his fate or better still, resolve it politically through a compromise. May be instead of yielding to his demand for a full restoration of Biafra through an organized referendum, the government should agree to a restructured Nigeria where the regions will be granted a near full autonomy as truly federated regions which will accommodate the sentiments which fired up the agitation. ICHEOKU says if it is offered, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu should accept it as a full measure and in complete satisfaction of his agitation, in lieu of a sovereign State of Biafra and continue to count his blessings that he did not disappear without a trace. October 21st, we now await.