BUHARI’S POISONED INHERITANCE: NNAMDI KANU, THE TRAP, AND TINUBU’S ETHNIC TINDERBOX
Since the arrest of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, since the endless court appearances, the solitary confinement, the dramatic abduction from Kenya, and now the conviction and sentencing, I chose silence.
Not because I had nothing to say.
But because Nigeria is a nation where emotion often buries reason, and where people protect their grievances more passionately than they pursue the truth.
Mazi Kanu is not just a political detainee.
He is not just a separatist.
His ordeal is layered with ethnicity, religion, culture and deep historical wounds.
To discuss him without caution is to pour petrol on a flame that already burns fiercely.
But the time for silence has ended, because the system has exposed itself again.
His sentencing has cracked Nigeria along familiar lines.
Some celebrated openly, as if watching a football match.
Others felt a sharp ache, a familiar pulse of injustice.
Once again, many Igbos felt the sting of oppression tightening around them.
Yet the truth is hard and heavy.
Nnamdi Kanu’s conviction was predetermined long before any judge entered that courtroom.
Justice Omotosho simply pronounced what had already been written by unseen hands.
A friend joked that the moment NTA began airing the court proceedings, we should all understand that the judgment was coming from “upstairs”.
It was painful because it felt true.
Nigeria has never been good at pretending.
But let us look at the bigger story, the one many Nigerians have refused to confront.
Most Nigerians do not understand the burden President Tinubu inherited.
This crisis was not born during his tenure.
It was one of the toxic legacies that Buhari left behind, a poisoned chalice disguised as governance.
Truth be told, this is the worst moment in history for Tinubu to be President.
Buhari left behind landmines.
And Nnamdi Kanu was one of the biggest.
It is time to speak honestly and let us speak honestly.
It was Buhari, not Tinubu, not the courts who created the monster that became the Nnamdi Kanu phenomenon.
During Goodluck Jonathan’s administration, Kanu was merely one among many loud online agitators.
Nobody knew him in the streets.
His voice was loud, but it was just another voice in Nigeria’s noisy political marketplace.
Jonathan ignored him and the South East was Peaceful.
Then entered Buhari, the calamity of a nation!
A leader who, instead of healing old wounds, dug deeper graves.
He came with an indescribable personal bitterness toward the Igbo nation that was neither subtle nor hidden.
He once described Ndi Igbo as “a dot in a circle.”
And he governed exactly that way.
This ethnic bias was not limited to rhetoric. It was institutionalized. We watched the unceremonious dismissal and forced retirement of competent Igbo officers across the military and other security agencies, systematically clearing the path for Fulani dominance. There were even highly suspicious cases, like the tragic murder of officers of Igbo extraction who were next in line for top posts such as the Inspector General of Police, all to prevent an Igbo man from holding the office.
He systematically flooded the region with northern soldiers.
Roadblocks became humiliation and intimidation points - it became the ugly signature of daily life.
Women were assaulted and raped.
Farmers were slaughtered in their farmlands and their crops fed to cattles.
Villages were invaded and terrorized under the silent rise of roaming killer herdsmen. At one point, helicopters were seen delivering weapons to the callous and cruel invaders.
Buhari's plan was clear and satanic,
Create insecurity in the South-East.
Turn the region into another theatre of chaos. Break their confidence.
Divert attention.
Push a narrative.
Break a proud people.
And he succeeded.
Out of that fire, Kanu emerged, not as a blogger, but as a symbol of resistance.
A movement was born from pain, not politics.
When Kanu was finally seized after a global chase, Buhari and his Attorney General, Abubakar Malami, celebrated like hunters posing with a trophy.
It was Malami who coordinated the infamous Kenya extraction.
Press statements sounded like victory chants.
Yet today, the same Igbo voices harmed by Malami now praise him because he is now a member of a coalition party where another prominent Igbo son is expected to emerge as a Presidential flag-bearer.
Nigeria is a nation that forgets too quickly.
Here is the interesting part everyone must understand.
Buhari intentionally avoided concluding Kanu’s case.
He delayed it.
He dragged it.
He avoided sentencing him.
Because he wanted a Yoruba president to carry the final blame.
A perfect ethnic trap.
Tinubu walked straight into it.
As president, Tinubu could not act immediately.
The northern political bloc was watching.
Security hawks were watching.
His personal history with Kanu complicated matters.
So he allowed the judiciary to play its role.
And the judiciary delivered exactly what had already been decided. The judgement and sentencing were predetermined.
Now that the expected outcome is achieved, Kanu will likely be released later under presidential pardon.
A political solution disguised as compassion.
But the greatest disappointment lies closer to home.
Where are the Igbo governors?
Where are the senators?
Where are the elders and self-proclaimed custodians of Igbo pride?
Silent.
Cowering.
Afraid to speak and offend Abuja.
Afraid to lose political opportunities.
Their selfish ambitions outweigh the suffering of their own people.
History will remember them, and the memory will be shameful.
This moment is bigger than Kanu.
Bigger than the courts.
Bigger than tribal sentiments.
The real question is not whether Kanu is innocent or guilty.
The real question is this;
How did Nigeria become a country where justice is scripted, ethnicity is a weapon, and leaders manufacture enemies to maintain control?
Until we confront that truth, Nnamdi Kanu will not be the last.
He is only the latest chapter in a country that keeps burying its conscience.
Nigeria is bleeding.
Her wounds are deep.
Her politics is venomous.
Her justice system is predictable.
But no nation heals by whispering at the edges.
Healing begins when someone dares to speak from the center of the wound.
And today, that wound is named Nnamdi Kanu!
Written by Meche Oswald
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