By Onwuasoanya Jones
Preparatory to the botched political campaign couched as free Nnamdi Kanu protest, the IPOB media department was at their best, churning out one lie after the other, in their usual style to brainwash many people to turn out for the unsuccessful subversive campaign.
IPOB gained notoriety through lies, fake news, hate speeches and influence peddling, so it shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone who has been monitoring the rogue group for long to see them use the same tired strategies in an attempt to inspire their supporters to troop out in large numbers for the failed October 20th campaign.
Below are some of the fake stories they planted in the last few weeks;
1. A GHANIAN TRADITIONAL RULER IS IN NIGERIA TO JOIN THE PROTEST: This is an outright lie as no Ghanian Traditional Rulers was in Nigeria and there is no way a Ghanaian traditional ruler would be in the country to join a protest, because every reasonable person knows that the case is in court and Nnamdi Kanu has been offered an opportunity to defend himself against the allegations from the FG.
2. FATHER MBAKA LANDS IN COURT, DEMANDS THAT NNAMDI KANU IS RELEASED TO HIM: Father Mbaka did not attend the last court sitting and has never attended any recent court sitting involving Nnamdi Kanu. Father Mbaka does not have the authority to ask a judge to hand over an accused person to him. It is only Nnamdi Kanu’s lawyers who can extricate him from the legal troubles he has put himself in.
3. OBASANJO WARNS IGBOS ABOUT NNAMDI KANU: Former President Olusegun Obasanjo is a highly respected statesman. Though very outspoken on issues of national interest, he has never uttered a word regarding the ongoing trial of Nnamdi Kanu.
4. THEOPHILUS DANJUMA PRAISES IGBO INTELLIGENCE: Of course, there is no doubt that Igbos are a very intelligent and industrious tribe, and many Nigerian leaders, including Rtd General Theophilus Danjuma acknowledges this special intelligence. However, General Theophilus Danjuma has not said anything in this regard recently.
5. SUPREME COURT ORDERED NNAMDI KANU’S RELEASE: This is not true. Nnamdi Kanu’s lawyers actually went to court against the FG to question the legality of Nnamdi Kanu’s trial, arguing that the process of repatriating him to Nigeria was illegal, hence, Nigeria lacks the jurisdiction to try him. The Appeal Court upheld the argument of IPOB leader’s lawyers and ordered that Nnamdi Kanu be returned to Kenya by the Federal Government. However, the FG appealed against this judgement to the Supreme Court. The apex court in its ruling nullified the order of the Appeal Court and ordered that Nnamdi Kanu should face trial on charges filed against him in court. It was following this order that Nnamdi Kanu’s trial resumed at the FCT High Court.
6. FG IS DELAYING NNAMDI KANU’S TRIAL BECAUSE THEY DON’T HAVE ANY EVIDENCE TO PROSECUTE HIM. This is also a major lie. The FG has never been the one delaying Kanu’s trial, but his lawyers are. From his first arrest in 2015, Nnamdi Kanu’s lawyers had adopted varying strategies to escape trial. In 2017, through a high-level political agreement, Kanu was granted bail by Binta Nyarko with conditions. However, the IPOB leader flouted all the conditions of the bail, and when the Army visited his house, and were provoked by IPOB rascals, Kanu used that opportunity to escape the country, thereby jumping bail. He remained a fugitive from the law until he was rearrested in 2021 and brought back to Nigeria. Upon his return to the country, the FG quickly re-arraigned him on terrorism and treasonable felony charges, but his lawyers, instead of proceeding to defend him on those charges began another episode of delay tactics. When their several attempts at securing bail failed, they sued the FG in different courts. However, their argument over a purported “illegal rendition” was argued from the High Court up to the Supreme Court, where they lost out. Upon the Supreme Court’s judgement ordering his trial to resume immediately, Kanu’s lawyers began another delay tactics by insisting that the trial judge, Justice Binta Nyarko must recuse herself. After many back and forth, Binta Nyarko returned the case file to the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, who eventually reassigned the case to Justice James Omotosho. The FG has opened presented their case against Kanu, called all their witnesses and presented solid evidence. Now, it is the turn of Nnamdi Kanu’s lawyers to open their defence and disprove the allegations of the FG against them. Instead of doing that, they hired Sowore and pumped millions into hiring social media influencers and activists to stage a protest for the release of Nnamdi Kanu. The Federal High Court has given them until 23rd October to open their defence and until 30th of October to close it. Judgement in the matter might come before the end of this year.
7. FEDERAL GOVERNMENT OFFERED NNAMDI KANU 500 BILLION NAIRA AND FIVE BILLION NAIRA MONTHLY TO SUPPORT TINUBU AND BE FREED. This is another big falsehood. Nobody has offered Nnamdi Kanu any money and nobody will offer him money to support Tinubu. President Tinubu and the APC have been winning their elections without Nnamdi Kanu and will continue to win. If Nnamdi Kanu is offered any money, he will jump at it. After all, it was an offer of money that was used to lure him to Kenya where he was apprehended. Nnamdi Kanu has no known job, apart from IPOB, which he registered as a limited liability company, and he survives and lives large on monies contributed to IPOB by many Igbos, especially, stranded Igbo immigrants and Nigerians seeking asylum by pleading ethnic persecution in Nigeria.
There are many other lies, but I leave you with those for now.
May Alaigbo Heal!