By Njoku Jude Njoku, Esq.
October 11, 2025
1. History Repeats Itself in Nigeria’s Politics of Suppression
Every era in Nigeria’s history seems to produce a new prisoner of conscience someone bold enough to question the power structure, and for that courage, made to suffer.
From the colonial masters to their post-independence successors, the system has remained intolerant of dissenting voices. It is a tragic pattern that connects Herbert Macaulay in 1929, Nnamdi Azikiwe in the 1940s, Chief Obafemi Awolowo in 1962, and Ken Saro-Wiwa in 1995.
Each of these men was branded a threat to national stability simply for demanding justice, equality, or self-rule.
Today, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu stands in that same historical line a man whose “crime” was speaking into a microphone, not firing a weapon. Yet, his words have been criminalized as terrorism.
What Nigeria punishes most severely is not violence, but truth.
2. The Invisible Hand of Neo-Colonialism
The tragedy is larger than one man. The machinery that holds Kanu captive is the same one designed by Britain to maintain control long after independence.
The British mastered the psychology of rule creating an elite class loyal to the old order, not the people. These “gatekeepers” inherited the colonial throne, ruling through fear, division, and dependency.
What Kanu threatens is not just the Nigerian state, but this inherited system of control a structure built on the illusion of unity and the suppression of self-determination.
His demand for fairness and autonomy is a direct challenge to that architecture. And like every challenger before him, he has been silenced through imprisonment and propaganda.
3. When Words Become More Dangerous Than Bullets
Nigeria has turned logic on its head. Those who kill are often granted amnesty and integrated into politics, while those who speak are branded as terrorists.
The state has learned to fear the microphone more than the gun, because truth spreads faster than bullets.
If speaking against injustice now constitutes terrorism, then Nigeria’s founding fathers were the first “terrorists.” They, too, spoke truth to power — and were jailed, beaten, or exiled for it.
Kanu’s offence is awakening a generation that refuses to accept oppression as destiny. His movement is not built on bombs but on ideas — and that, to an unjust order, is far more dangerous.
4. A Trial Turned Theatre
Since his abduction and unlawful rendition from Kenya in 2021 an act widely condemned by legal experts and human rights advocates Kanu has faced a parade of charges ranging from treason to incitement.
Yet, despite multiple rulings granting him bail or release, the state continues to defy its own judiciary. The case has become less about justice and more about power.
On October 8, 2025, the Federal High Court in Abuja once again adjourned the matter to October 16, pending yet another report — this time from the Nigerian Medical Association, over his deteriorating health.
Years of endless delays have reduced the entire process to a grim theatre of intimidation. As activist Omoyele Sowore aptly put it, Kanu is now “a judicial hostage” of a government terrified of his ideas.
5. Atiku’s Voice Breaks the Silence
A surprising voice joined the growing calls for justice this week that of former Vice President Atiku Abubakar.
On October 9, Atiku publicly demanded Kanu’s unconditional release, describing his detention as “an open sore on the conscience of the nation and a betrayal of our faith in the rule of law.”
His statement, coming after similar interventions in 2023 and 2024, signaled a rare alignment of principle across political and ethnic lines.
The impact was immediate. Conversations on justice, equality, and political hypocrisy have once again taken center stage. Nigerians are now gearing up for the #GreatMarchForMNK, scheduled for October 20 a protest that could unite citizens across long-standing divides.
6. The Irony of History: The Oppressors of the Present
Nothing exposes hypocrisy more than history. The same Tinubu administration that recently honored nationalist heroes like Herbert Macaulay now presides over the persecution of a modern-day dissenter.
It is a bitter irony yesterday’s victims of oppression now wielding the same tools of injustice they once condemned.
History, however, has a long memory. Every regime that silenced a patriot has later been judged harshly by time. The same fate awaits those who perpetuate injustice today.
7. The Promise of a New National Struggle
Beyond the courtroom drama, something new may be taking shape. If Sowore’s planned march succeeds, it could signal the birth of a new coalition one that unites Nigerians not by tribe or religion, but by shared suffering and a collective hunger for freedom.
Kanu’s struggle could evolve from a regional demand into a national awakening — a reminder that the fight for justice anywhere is a fight for justice everywhere.
In that moment, his message will transcend the idea of Biafra to symbolize a broader struggle for dignity, equality, and true nationhood.
Omoyele Sowore, himself a veteran of political persecution, now stands poised to transform decades of resistance into a people’s movement a rebirth of solidarity that may yet rescue the soul of Nigeria.
8. Conclusion: History’s Unfinished Chapter
Every generation produces a voice that refuses to be silenced. Nnamdi Kanu’s voice, though caged for now, continues to echo across Nigeria challenging the nation to choose between oppression and conscience.
If the system learns nothing from history, it will only repeat its mistakes. But if Nigerians seize this moment, Kanu’s ordeal may one day be remembered not as a tragedy, but as the spark that reignited the nation’s fight for true liberation.
Because, in the end, the verdict of history always belongs to those who stood on the side of truth.
Njoku Jude Njoku, Esq.
Barrister & Public Affairs Analyst
Writing from London, United Kingdom
A proud son of Ikenga Ezudo, Mbaise, Imo State, Nigeria.
