RE: “FG READY TO NEGOTIATE WITH NNAMDI KANU’S RELEASE” — A SIGN OF JITTERS AND DECEPTION AHEAD OF 2027
Okey Anyanwu.
For days, I waited in hopeful suspense, thinking the July 5th, 2025 headline might be one of those momentary gaffes that would be quickly denied by the Presidency,particularly by His Excellency, David Umahi, Minister of Works. But alas, silence ensued. No clarification, no retraction, no context. And in Nigeria’s theatre of political doublespeak, silence often signals intent.
So, I must ask: Is this sudden willingness to negotiate with Mazi Nnamdi Kanu a genuine gesture of justice or a desperate gambit born of political trepidation?
Let it be made clear, Ndigbo are not a gullible people. We cannot be pacified with sugar-coated political offerings that reek of calculation rather than conviction. This sudden “readiness to negotiate” reeks not of reconciliation but of panic, panic over the rising tide of a formidable coalition: the African Democratic Congress (ADC).
Since the formal unveiling of this broad-based opposition movement on July 2nd, President Tinubu has embarked on a spree of erratic, half-hearted decisions aimed at cushioning the political heat. With heavyweights like H.E. Atiku Abubakar, Peter Obi, Nasir El-Rufai, Chibuike Amaechi, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, Senator David Mark, Emeka Ihedioha, and other national leaders at the helm, the ADC has become more than a party, it is now a symbol of hope and resistance against sectionalism, nepotism, and the orchestrated suppression of entire regions.
The president’s sudden turn to dialogue with Mazi Nnamdi Kanu is a clear sign that ADC is the beginning of Tinubu’s political wisdom.
Yes, the very coalition they ridiculed as “a gathering of political has-beens” is now the reason for their sleepless nights. The Tinubu administration, in its condescending arrogance, had long written off the Southeast, casting Ndigbo as a “conquered people” and relegating them to the periphery of national affairs. The disdain was never hidden. From Buhari’s administration, which brazenly sidelined the Southeast, to Tinubu’s continuation of that exclusionist legacy, we were branded “a dot in a circle” a phrase that will live in infamy.
Let me remind Mr. President that numerous revered Igbo elders and nationalists, Prof. George Obiozor, Chief Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu, H.E. (late) Chukwuemeka Ezeife, and the venerable Pa Mbazulike Amaechi,repeatedly pleaded for Mazi Nnamdi Kanu’s unconditional release. They implored with dignity. They interceded with honour. They even travelled to Abuja, to your courts, to plead for peace. But what did they receive in return? Cold indifference.
Not even the hallowed memory of these leaders moved you. Not their age. Not their sacrifice. Not even their shared NADECO past with you, Mr. President. You rejected their pleas, because hatred for Ndigbo seemed more politically profitable than justice or national healing.
Yet, now, just 72 hours after the ADC’s formal declaration, you suddenly discover the merit of negotiation? Who is fooling who? The optics are too glaring to ignore. This abrupt change in tone is not borne out of empathy, it is driven by electoral dread. It is nothing but a political charade, a last-ditch ploy to fragment rising Igbo consciousness and destabilize ADC’s momentum in the Southeast ahead of 2027.
The same Federal Government that clung to “court processes” now rushes toward negotiation overnight. What changed? Certainly not your conscience, but the Kenyan Judiciary’s verdict, which has rightly shamed the Nigerian justice system and exposed how political cases here are often scripted in the corridors of Aso Rock. In Kenya, where Naira and Dollars could not influence the scales of justice, Mazi Kanu was vindicated. A court stood tall and refused to be bought, and that singular act rendered your legal gymnastics here unconvincing.
We watch with keen interest, very keen interest, how this ends. But know this: we are no longer at the mercy of your script. The ship has sailed. The mood in the Southeast has evolved. The people have awakened. And the sacrifices of our fallen elders will not be used as pawns for your desperate political rehabilitation.
If you were truly sincere, Mr. President, you would have released Mazi Kanu long ago,when the elders spoke. Not now, when they have passed on, unheeded and unhonoured. Now, you negotiate with their ghosts?
The Nigerian people, especially the Southeast,deserve more than convenient justice. We deserve truth, consistency, and courage from those who lead us. And if your Minister, David Umahi, made those statements merely as a strategic smokescreen to pacify a region your administration has systematically marginalized, then I say this with all civility and resolve: I will not join in begging. We begged before. We pleaded with every ounce of humility. We walked through the system. You refused.
Let the record show that when the history of this moment is written, we did not fall for it. Release Mazi Nnamdi Kanu unconditionally,not because you fear ADC, not because 2027 is approaching, but because justice delayed has already become justice denied.
Time is ticking. And the Southeast is watching. Ndigbo will not be deceived. Not again. Not now. Not ever.
*@Okey Anyanwu*
