Kanu’s Appeal Court appearance: development that stunned the world

Kanu appearing in court today

By Tim Tochukwu

For Biafra Choice Writers

The world media and foreign observers got a test of Nigeria’s terrible state of affairs yesterday, Monday, April 25, at the Court of Appeal. They got firsthand knowledge of Nigerian government’s shenanigans and manipulation of the Judiciary.

The foreigners had gone to court to witnesses the trial of Nnamdi Kanu, leader of Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), who was being tried on trumped-up charges of treason. But to the chagrin of the visitors, they were told the case file was not brought to court because Judges were having a conference. It was a blow to many of them, who had spent money, time and energy from their countries to witness the trial, and they reacted in different ways.

While some were shocked, some were angered, and others just had pity on the people living under such a country. For those shocked, they were shocked because they could not fathom how a high-profile case could be fixed in a country for more than two weeks, only for people to be told on the day that the case file was not available because Judges Conference (an annual event) was going on. Did it then mean that those who fixed the case on the date did not know about the conference? They queried.

For those angered by the development, it showed gross incompetence on the part of government and those who run it; and went a long way to prove that the country could not be taken serious on anything. They told Biafra Choice Writers that they had begun to understand why some people brand the country “big for nothing”. They went on to express the opinion that if the country could not organize a simple court case that it would be difficult for it to organize factors of production; as well as the other important things that make for the development of a country. They began to understand why Nigeria was being treated with disdain by the international community.

For those who had pity on Nigerians, and Biafrans, they said it would be difficult to live in such a country with so much uncertainty, where government would not keep its word. They nodded in affirmation that they had begun to understand what Biafrans were going through, and what they were saying.

For them it was a waste of resources for both the government and the governed to organize court cases in such a manner. They said it was a shame spending so much and making so much fuzz about a case (and in the process frittering away public funds and resources) which would not hold. They said equally that it was a shame that citizens were made to spend their hard earned money to visit the court from all parts of the country, only to be disappointed on the day.

However, Biafrans who spoke were not surprised. They knew what the intention was. They said it was to frustrate them and make them to give up the fight. But they promised they would not give up. They said they were determined because what they were engaged in was a legitimate aspiration to extricate themselves from an evil country. They said they had seen worse manipulations of Nigerian government and its shenanigans to deny them justice, but that in the end, they would win.