By Dr Austin Orette
Now that Nnamdi Kanu has been sentenced, we can see clearly that the sky did not fall. The most beautiful thing is that this is a big win for the rule of law in our democratic setting.
Keeping him for so long gave the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) proponents a measure of legitimacy that they did not deserve.
We must learn and prepare our courts to handle thorny and vexatious cases. The more we try these people, who are on the lunatic fringe of society, the more we have a clearer definition of who we are as a people.
Throughout my writings, I have emphasized the rule of law as the pinnacle of our democratic society. The failure to try criminals leads to a culture of nihilism, vigilante justice and anarchy.
We must build more prisons and update our criminal justice system. We must not allow criminals living on the fringes of our society to determine our ethos. Rule of law and justice must go hand in hand.
One of the most puzzling things that troubled me is the way the proponents of Biafra were asking for a criminal to be freed without trial. Some trivialized the sins of Nnamdi as political as such; he should be set free using political methods to set a criminal free.
Some even argued that there is nothing he has done that other people have not done. They used yellow journalism to tell us that Boko Haram members are being recruited into the Nigerian army.
The Biafrans were attempting to amputate justice by agitating for Kanu to be freed without trial.
In the Federal Republic of Nigeria, all criminals should have their day in court. Calling it a political case does not make it less criminal.
In politics, we are expected to disagree with each other on issues. The moment you slap someone due to this disagreement, you have left the realm of politics into criminality and you should be prosecuted for criminal assault.
Politics is not a criminal enterprise even when unruly politicians use criminal methods to gain ascendancy.
We must fight to prosecute them. Some people may not decipher this if they take their cues from Nigerian politicians who send thugs to beat up journalists and their opponents. It is this misrepresentation that made a swath of South East politicians to agitate for the release of a criminal without trial.
Why didn’t they appeal to Norway to free Simon EKPA on political grounds? At the end of the day, Nnamdi Kanu who was giving orders to summarily execute people had a fair trial that was denied to his victims.
We must jettison the temptation to deny citizens of due process. We may not be happy with the outcome but that is not a reason to impugn the integrity of the judge.
The right thing to do is to appeal the case. At the post mortem, one of Nnamdi’s lawyers regaled us with Nnamdi’s knowledge of the law. He said Nnamdi knows more law than the lawyers and the judge.
Here we go again with stupid braggadocio. What is the knowledge of the law if you have no respect for our courts and the presiding judge? In what universe do these Biafrans exist?
How come these Biafrans are so gullible that they will take the hallucinations of a sick person as ordained truth?
I will advise them to plead that their client is impaired by reason of insanity instead of questioning this judgment which was based on sound legal reasoning.
Court proceedings are public records. Those in doubt should get a copy of the transcript of the judgement instead of substituting their emotional tantrum for sound legal reasoning.
Dr Austin Orette Writes From Houston, Texas
