Food for Thought

‘’Now more than ever, people have a hunger to believe in something…bring people together around a cause and you create a motivated force.’’

– Robert Greene, 33 Strategies of War.

Brief Biography of Nnamdi Kanu

Nwannekaenyi Nnamdi Kenny Okwu Kanu or Mazi Nnamdi Kanu as he is popularly called, was born circa 1970 to a traditional ruler, HRH Eze Israel Kanu and Lolo Ugoeze Nnenne Kanu of Isiama Afaraukwu, Ibeku near Umuahia, Abia State. He attended Library Avenue Primary School (now part of the Abia State Government House, Umuahia) and Government College Umuahia for his Secondary school education before proceeding to the University of Nigeria Nsukka (UNN). He reportedly didn’t graduate from UNN but bolted to the United Kingdom to complete his tertiary education. Mazi Nnamdi Kanu – Director of Radio Biafra was a regular Joe Bloggs plying his trade in the United Kingdom until the Buhari administration (in)advertently transformed him into a brand, a force, an international figure and a folk hero of some sort. Mazi Kanu was a vitriolic foot soldier of Chief Ralph Uwazuruike-led separatist ‘’Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra’’ (MASSOB) but he reportedly parted ways with Uwazuruike afterwards and pitched his tent with another separatist platform – the ‘’Indigenous People of Biafra’’ (IPOB). Before his arrest, not many people knew about him or listened to his exuberant rants on his online London-based Radio Biafra. Like many youths of his age bracket, it appears Mazi Nnamdi Kanu was disillusioned with the Nigerian project, particularly his perceived marginalization and injustice meted out to people of his Igbo ethnic extraction. On 5 September 2015, he was a guest speaker at the World Igbo Congress held in California during which he allegedly demanded for weapons that would be used to actualize Biafra. Kanu’s outburst at the World Igbo Congress became his undoing.

SERIES: BUHARISM AND THE FIERCE URGENCY OF NOW

A treatise on pastoral jihadism, islamism, arabism and cultural imperialism in Nigeria

(Ephesians 5:14)

PART 11

CABAL: MYTH OR REALITY

DIASPORA NOTE TO THE DOUBTING THOMASES

It is a thing of great lamentation to to read Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the Coordinating Acting President (CAP), Oluleke Osinbajo displaying gross naivety and total ignorance, describing the existence of the cabals at the Presidency and by extension, in the entire polity as a myth, so non-existent.

It is certainly a season of mind-boggling cash hauls in Nigeria. Thanks to a Whistle Blower, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, recently unraveled a staggering $43.4 million (about N14 billion) warehoused inside the infamous ‘’Apartment 7B’’ at Osborne Towers, Ikoyi, Lagos. Prior to the #IkoyiGate cash haul, the EFCC also uncovered bundles of naira notes totaling about N450 Million inside ‘Ghana-must-go’ bags at shop LS64 Legico Plaza, Nigerian Air force Camp, Victoria Island, Lagos State. A whopping $9.8 million (about N3 billion) was also recovered from the former Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, Mr. Andrew Laah Yakubu, on February 3, 2017; while N250 million was hauled from the popular Balogun Market, also in Lagos. Not forgetting the N49 million cash that was reclaimed by the EFCC at the Kaduna Airport a while ago. The federal government also submits that $151 million (N46 billion) was seized from a fake account in an unnamed commercial bank. All in all the Nigerian government brags that thanks to the whistleblowing policy, at the conservative parallel market rate of N306 to the US dollar, the least value of the humongous cash so far confiscated amounts to N73 billion in the last four months (December 22, 2016 to April 2017). Whistleblowing is undoubtedly the trending buzzword in Nigeria. As a matter of fact, the policy recently led to the discovery of counterfeit and unregistered products worth over N200 million in Ota, Ogun State by the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC).

SERIES: BUHARISM AND THE FIERCE URGENCY OF NOW

A treatise on pastoral jihadism, islamism, arabism and cultural imperialism in Nigeria
(Ephesians 5:14)

BUT WHO REALLY ARE THE CABALS?

And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. Matt 24:12

“What passes for the Nigerian nation is nothing more than a tragic arena, and Yar‘Adua is only the latest tragic figure. The vampires, including those within his own family, turned him into a mere inert resource for their diabolical schemes. They have a reckoning with their conscience, assuming they know what the word means. One can only hope that, while mouthing sanctimonious platitudes such as ‘Power belongs to God,’ they have now learned that the politics of Do-or-Die cannot guarantee who does and who dies. They must stop playing God. I pray for the repose of the soul of their latest, much abused innocent victim." - Professor Wole Soyinka.