By Ebuka Onyekwelu, Ph.D
Mr. Peter Obi’s recent claim that “there is no reason for keeping Nnamdi Kanu” offers an interesting twist that is both expository and perhaps comical if, perchance, he had not been at the centre of violent pro-Biafra agitation while he was in power.
Recall that when Nnamdi Kanu was convicted of terrorism and sentenced to life imprisonment, the NDC Presidential candidate and Anambra State former governor, Mr. Peter Obi, called for dialogue. However, a video in circulation where Obi said he had been consistent in calling for dialogue invites interrogation. It is imperative to examine Obi’s recent comments in line with his action against a pro-Biafra group called Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra – MASSOB, when he was governor of Anambra State.
Years ago, under Obi’s watch, MASSOB was a menace just like IPOB, the latest violent pro-Biafra group. At the time, MASSOB had gun duels with the police in Onitsha multiple times. They, in fact, constituted a serious breach of law and order by forcing people to pay taxes to them and even arresting and imprisoning people in their cells at Onitsha, Anambra State. Effectively, MASSOB created a parallel government just like IPOB did when they claimed and administered territories with armed thugs in recent memory. The faceoff between MASSOB and Obi’s government was so intense that Governor Obi’s convoy was attacked by the miscreants. So, what did Peter Obi do? He did not dialogue with them. He unleashed the state’s full coercive force on them from his third month in office till the end of his 8 years stay as Governor.
Without any doubt, Peter Obi’s latest call for dialogue with criminal Biafra agitators contradicts his earlier stance as Governor of Anambra State between 2006 and 2014.
First, in June, 2006, following the unrest in Onitsha because of the clash between the police and MASSOB, Governor Peter Obi banned MASSOB in Anambra State. The state-wide ban of MASSOB by Governor Peter Obi was communicated in a broadcast by the governor on June 18, 2006. In the broadcast, he also said his government will use law enforcement to ensure compliance with the ban. In the broadcast, Governor Obi also banned the National Association of Road Transport Owners – NARTO and the National Union of Road Transport Workers, NURTW. He did not dialogue with them. To date, perhaps, Anambra State is one of the few States in Nigeria where NURTW and NARTO are not functional. He did not stop there. The governor, Mr. Peter Obi, imposed a dusk-to-dawn curfew in Onitsha the same day.
The day after, Daily Champion of 20th June, 2006, reported that “Anambra State Governor, Mr. Peter Obi directed security operatives to shoot on sight hoodlums caught perpetrating violence in the city.” The hoodlums were members of MASSOB who made Onitsha ungovernable at the time. Just like many ESN militants of IPOB are making parts of southeast Nigeria ungovernable, resulting in the government’s crackdown.
Between 2006 and 2014, the hostility of MASSOB was met with a stronger hostility by the Governor Peter Obi-led administration in Anambra State. He did not dialogue with them whatsoever. He unleashed the force of the law on them from the start of his administration to the end of his two terms of 8 years, as governor of Anambra State. There are several reports of multiple deaths of MASSOB members running into a few hundreds or thousands under Peter Obi, which remain a mystery to this day. But some level of sanity was restored in Onitsha.
On 9th November 2011, about 200 members of MASSOB were arrested by the police in Onitsha. Reacting to this development, MASSOB’s spokesman Uchenna Madu said that “the mass arrest was sequel to an order by the Anambra State Commissioner of Police, CP Muktari Ibrahim, who was prompted by Governor Peter Obi, whose hatred for MASSOB has never been hidden.”
On November 12, 2013, just a few months before the end of Governor Peter Obi’s 8 years in office, MASSOB had another clash with the police in Onitsha, and some of their members were killed. In a statement, the group said they would arrest Peter Obi when he leaves office over the killing of MASSOB members.
Therefore, for Mr. Peter Obi to claim that Nnamdi Kanu should not have been convicted or refer to his conviction as an “unfortunate development” while calling for “dialogue and constructive engagement” in dealing with IPOB’s criminality, leaves so much to be desired.
