Nnamdi Kanu: “Count us out” – Igbo push-back on Sowore’s planned protest for his release

Human rights activist and former presidential candidate, Omoyele Sowore, has again stepped into the fray of Nigeria’s most divisive national question – the continued detention of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).

His latest campaign, culminating in a planned “Freedom March on Aso Rock Villa” slated for October 20, has rekindled passions long subdued by fear and fatigue in the South East.

While Kanu’s loyalists have hailed Sowore as a courageous ally, weary Igbo intellectuals and political elites view his push with deep scepticism. To them, the activist’s sudden crusade for Kanu’s freedom is less about justice and more about 2027 presidential politics – a ploy, they say, to undermine Peter Obi’s influence in the South East, Kanu’s natural support base.

Sowore insists otherwise. “Freedom is not a favor to be granted by oppressors; it is a right that cannot be negotiated,” he wrote on X (formerly Twitter).

“They are playing politics with @nnamdikanu’s freedom, but justice MUST prevail. A Freedom March on Aso Rock Villa is our irreversible goal on October 20, 2025.”

A new campaign, old wounds

Sowore’s push, first announced in late September, gathered momentum when former Vice President Atiku Abubakar openly endorsed it. In a post on October 9, Atiku wrote: “The continued detention of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu remains an open sore on our nation’s conscience and a stain on our belief in the rule of law. Defying court orders that granted him bail is an abuse of power and an assault on justice.

“I, therefore, lend my voice in full support of the campaign led by @YeleSowore for his immediate release or due prosecution. We fail as patriots if we allow Kanu’s case to fester as yet another wound this nation refuses to heal.”

Atiku’s intervention was swiftly followed by Sowore’s revelation that former President Goodluck Jonathan had agreed to meet President Bola Tinubu over Kanu’s incarceration.

“Earlier today in Abuja, I met with former President Goodluck Jonathan to discuss the continued incarceration of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu,” Sowore posted on October 10. “President Jonathan agreed that there is an urgent and compelling need to address this matter decisively and justly. Particularly assuring was that he promised to meet President Bola Tinubu to discuss this issue as soon as possible.”

According to Sowore, Jonathan’s commitment adds weight to the growing number of political and civil society figures – including Femi Falana (SAN) and Shehu Sani, who have called for Kanu’s release.

But among the Igbo intelligentsia and the political class, the campaign has raised more suspicion than hope.

The ghost of violence

For many in the South East, memories of the chaos that followed Kanu’s earlier campaigns for Biafra remain raw. In December 2020, Kanu launched the Eastern Security Network (ESN), ostensibly to defend Igbo communities from herdsmen attacks. What followed was a tragic spiral: an explosion of violence, assassinations, and the collapse of civic life in many parts of the region.

After Kanu’s re-arrest in June 2021, his Finland-based disciple, Simon Ekpa, took over command of the armed groups, violently enforcing the infamous “sit-at-home” orders that crippled the region’s economy. Ekpa has since been convicted for terrorism in Finland, but his network’s imprint lingers in the ruins of burnt markets, deserted villages, and shattered lives across Imo, Anambra, and Enugu.

The trauma is why many now view Sowore’s agitation with alarm. “Those of us who lived through the terror know what it cost us,” said an analyst who declined to be named.

“We got worse off after Kanu’s 2017 release because he didn’t listen to anyone. He incited people against fellow Igbo leaders, against Ohanaeze figures like George Obiozor and Nnia Nwodo, calling them saboteurs. Obiozor’s home was burnt; he died heartbroken soon after. Nwodo barely escaped an explosion at his home in Ukehe.”

The analyst warned that if Kanu is freed without accountability, the consequences could again be dire. “He has radicalised too many people, who still hold guns. If he comes out and resumes that same rhetoric, Igboland will pay an even heavier price.”

A complex prisoner, a divided homeland

Kanu has now spent four years in DSS detention, facing treasonable felony charges. Despite several court orders granting him bail, the federal government has refused to release him, citing “national security concerns.” His health, according to his lawyers and family, has deteriorated sharply.

In a petition to President Tinubu and Attorney-General Lateef Fagbemi (SAN) dated August 27, 2025, Hon. Obinna Aguocha, member of the House of Representatives from Abia State, warned that Kanu’s condition had degenerated to what doctors described as “multiple organ insufficiency.”

“The issue should not be subjected to political considerations,” Aguocha cautioned. “It is a humanitarian and constitutional imperative.”

Still, even as sympathy grows for Kanu’s plight, unease persists over his rhetoric and the enduring influence he wields. His old broadcasts on Radio Biafra – several of which circulated widely online – contain chilling directives to his followers.

For the better part of 2019, 2020 and before his arrest in June 2021, Kanu spend most of the days broadcasting on Radio Biafra, and fuelling violent rhetoric. With Sowore’s push, many have begun to reproduce some, which they insist he should be held accountable for.

Directing his armed men to attack security agents – in apparent response to the continued killing of IPOB members – Kanu had said: “From tomorrow the game changes, we are also going to kill them. We are not even going to allow them to attack us, we are going to attack them first. From tomorrow the game changes, from tomorrow Abia State will be on fire.

“As a human being, you can only face one direction, and we outnumber them. As they are  facing one group to shoot, another group will come from behind and take them, and shoot them, and take their guns from them and cut off their heads. Don’t just kill them, cut off their heads. So they will go to hell.

“Anybody you kill, don’t leave the body intact cut off the head. From tomorrow wherever you see a policeman or woman kill that person. From tomorrow anybody wearing army uniform kill them, take their guns. There will be magazines in their guns, use the magazines to kill a large number of them. It is as simple as that. It is a revolution.”

In another broadcast where he was warning residents of South East against coming out on a certain 31st being Monday, after he had declared sit-at-home, Kanu said, “I am telling everybody tonight, if you come out on the 31st, on Monday you are going to die. You will die. I am warning everybody. On the 31st if you come outside you will die. If you are a road transporter, or you are a transport worker or whatever, you know how our people behave. They will say nobody can tell me what to do. But that day you will perish.

“On the 31st you will die, you will perish. I know some id*ots will carry their baskets and say they want to go and look for what the children will eat. But the land will eat you that day. As you are going out to look for what the children will eat, the land will eat you. Any chairman of any market that opens on that very day, you are a ‘gonner.’

“At most they will write about it for two or three days, and you will be forgotten. If you say that you are too tough to die, come out that day, you know the way we love dead bodies. Your obituary will happen. At least, we will go there and eat rice.  Monday is the real deal. On the 31st, nobody should come outside. If you have relatives in Umuahia go and tell them.”

During the EndSARS protest of 2020, Kanu in another broadcast, said, “And I want Lagos airport to be in flames. Go and burn down Lagos. if you have double barrel; if you have pistol, anything you have, give it to them, let them go. Let them set Murtala Muhammad airport on fire. Set it on fire right now, then the world will listen. You are dealing with animals. Fulani janjaweed, they are animals. They do not reason, you don’t know them.”

Political minefield ahead of 2027

Sowore’s campaign, critics argue, is as much a political calculation as a human rights effort. A vocal politician himself and founder of the African Action Congress (AAC), he has never hidden his ambition to run again in 2027.

For some observers, courting sympathy in the South East through Kanu’s cause may be a shrewd attempt to cut into Peter Obi’s dominant base.

Ezeagu Ebuka, an Enugu-based lawyer and public affairs analyst, articulated the concern bluntly:  “If Sowore’s efforts eventually lead to Kanu’s release, that would be fine. But it’s difficult to trust him given his penchant for mischief. The heart of all this noise is 2027 politics and the desperate desire of a few to diminish Peter Obi’s influence in the South East, especially among IPOB sympathisers.

“Their key intention is to drag Obi into the charade so his detractors can tag him an ethnic champion and IPOB sympathiser. If he joins the protest, he’s branded pro-secession; if he stays away, IPOB loyalists accuse him of betrayal. Either way, it’s a two-edged sword – a protest designed to achieve a mischievous end.”

Ebuka also questioned the sincerity of the new converts to Kanu’s cause. “Where were Jonathan, Atiku, and Shehu Sani all these years?” he asked. “None of them said a word for his release. So, why now, if not for optics and concealed interests?”

South East Emotional Response

For Kanu’s core supporters, however, Sowore’s campaign is a rare act of courage. They believe the activist is giving voice to a region whose cries for justice have long been ignored.

A prominent pro-Kanu account on X, @Unclechike1, blasted critics of the campaign: “@YeleSowore is free to work for Tinubu if he chooses to. Are your governors, who take all your taxes and allocations not working for Tinubu? Intellectuals with misplaced priorities! They deceive you because you’re foolish enough to be deceived easily… You want to use a ten-year incarceration of a man, who has never been convicted to play politics.”

The outburst reflects a deep resentment among many younger Igbo, who feel the region’s political elite abandoned Kanu once his agitation turned inconvenient. To them, Sowore’s intervention is a reminder that some voices outside the South East still see injustice where others see danger.

Yet, others, including governors and senior politicians, are treading cautiously. In late September, Abia State governor, Dr. Alex Otti, confirmed that the South East Governors’ Forum had been quietly engaging federal authorities to secure Kanu’s release. He urged restraint, noting that the issue was being handled through “confidential negotiations” to avoid jeopardizing progress.

“We are deeply involved,” Otti told journalists in Umuahia. “The discussions are sensitive, but I am optimistic they will soon produce positive results for the region.”

Tinubu’s calculations and undercurrent

Within the presidency, sources say Kanu’s fate is now part of a broader reconciliation strategy. “Tinubu is likely to release Kanu,” said one Abuja-based analyst. “I heard about a month ago that it’s being seriously considered. The Sowore noise could be part of the plan to create the right atmosphere, or he might have heard about it and is trying to gain political capital. Either way, he could complicate things.”

According to this view, Tinubu faces a delicate balancing act. On one hand, Kanu’s release could buy him goodwill in the South East, where he won few votes in 2023. On the other, it risks reviving an agitation that once brought the region to the brink.

Between justice, fear and politics

The complexities surrounding Kanu’s detention cut across law, politics, and emotion. His followers insist he is a prisoner of conscience punished for demanding equity. His critics see him as a dangerous demagogue whose reckless rhetoric unleashed a generation of armed zealots.

Caught in between are politicians like Sowore – whose activism blends idealism with ambition – and a weary Igbo elite struggling to rebuild a region scarred by violence and mistrust.

Whether Sowore’s October 20 March becomes a turning point or another flashpoint remains to be seen. What is clear is that Kanu’s continued incarceration has become a national test of Nigeria’s ability to balance justice and stability.

As one analyst summed it up, “The problem with Kanu is not just his detention; it’s what his release represents. For some, it means healing. For others, it means reopening wounds that never truly closed.”