As the saying goes, "Your freedom is in your hands. You hold the key to your freedom and the freedom of your people. Don't betray it."

n the first place, It is not the Court of the same Nigerian Government that went to a foreign country, Kenya and abducted Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, extraordinary renditioned him, and has since June 2021 kept him in the torture cell of Nigeria's secret police, DSS in Abuja, in solitary confinement, incommunicado, that is going to free him! Rather, Nnamdi Kanu is going to be freed, just as Biafra he is fighting for its self-determination and independence, is going to be a free sovereign and independent state on its own rights, only through the collective and conceited, concrete efforts of the Biafran people themselves, Nnamdi Kanu's kinsmen and women. Ndigbo in particular, to be precise. That is, as a Nation, standing solidly, firmly, and determined, as a people behind Mazi Nnamdi Kanu and his struggle. And behind whoever has taken it upon himself to stand on the gap for him, especially, now that the IPOB leader is in the dungeon of the enemy!

Make no mistake about it. The struggle that Nnamdi Kanu has taken upon himself, is not just for his Igbo or Biafran people alone. No! Rather, it is a struggle that has a wider implications for the imminent liberation of the entire, different and diverse, component, indigenous ethnic nationalities and peoples, that the British forcefully merged together under a colonial fiat in 1914, and named Nigeria! This would also imply that what Nnamdi Kanu is fighting for, is for the second independence of the different indigenous African peoples, aggrieved ethnic nationalities, from the neo-colonial yoke and from the domineering ethnic nationalities and modern day African political puppets that have been holding everyone in bondage and servitude in the country! This is why every hand must be on deck for the immediate and unconditional release of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu. Love or hate him, the solution to the perennial political imbroglio besetting Nigeria since 1914, and especially, since the country's flag independence in 1960, lies in this struggle, Nnamdi Kanu's travail is challenging us all with!

Today, many people are beginning to realize, especially, after the last shambolic and fraudulent 2023 elections (just like the previous so-called elections before it), that the problem with Nigeria is never going to be resolved through the every four years of elections that produces nothing but anguish and more suffering for the masse. And that has always succeeded in recycling the same corrupt, self-serving and bloodsucking politicians that are responsible for our woes in the country all these years! Nigeria's problem will never be solved through this every four years of shambolic political elections, or change of personnel of the same 'criminal politicians', through those fraudulent and shambolic, bloodbaths, violence-ridden elections in Nigeria!

If truth be told, the solution to the problem with Nigeria lies in what Nnamdi Kanu is struggling for. That is, on this very thing he is calling on the gatekeepers of the Nigerian state to do. Namely, to conduct a referendum for self-determination for those ethnic nationalities or major geopolitical regions in the country that want to separate, to form their own independent sovereign states. In this way, we all will begin to relate well as neighbours, neighbouring nation states in West African sub-region, under ECOWAS. And that will help to put an end, in fact, a stop to all these shenanigans of bloodbaths and violence we call elections in Nigeria. It will also help to put a stop, or at least, minimize the current Islamic insurgency in Northern Nigeria and in the neighbouring Sahel region countries of West Africa!

Referendum for self-determination that Nnamdi Kanu is advocating for is the most viable solution to the problem we have at hands, both in Nigeria and throughout the EVOWAS' nation states. This is the reason why we all must listen to the IPOB leader and get him released unconditionally and immediately from the dungeon of the Nigerian government! Nnamdi Kanu's struggle for self-determination is the key to the problem with Nigeria and West African nation states, on these perennial issues of political instability and insecurity in the region and in our communities in Nigeria!

The Challenge before Nnamdi Kanu's Igbo, Biafran people

The land or society of any serious minded or determined people and nation, will never know peace or rest, as long as the warrior of that land or society is still languishing in the dungeon of their enemy. Not until Nnamdi Kanu is set free, the entire Igboland and by extension, the entire Biafra (defunct Eastern region), as well as Nigeria in general, will continue to be in turmoil as is presently the case in the country and region! By the way, no serious people or society will go to rest or sleep while their warrior, leader of their freedom fighters' movement is incarcerated in the dungeon of their enemy! No serious people or nation will ever go to rest, until that their incarcerated warrior and leader of their struggle for freedom is released. Because, the freedom of such a people or nation, depends to a great extent, and on the final analysis, on the freedom of that their incarcerated warrior and leader! This is what Nnamdi Kanu is representing for Ndigbo today and for the people of the former Eastern region, Biafra!

Freedom, justice, peace, and tranquility in Igboland and the entire Old Eastern region, and indeed, Nigeria, as it is now, is pending, and will never come about until Nnamdi Kanu is released and set free! Again, the key to peace and security in Nigeria in general, and in Biafra, in particular, is the freedom of Nnamdi Kanu! The more the Nigerian authorities continue to keep Mazi Nnamdi Kanu in their dungeon, the more the problem of that country is going to multiply and the suffering in the land and lamentations will continue unabated!

This is to say, that the freedom of MNK, just as the freedom of Ndigbo, and Biafra, will depend, on final analysis, on how prepared and determined the people he, Nnamdi Kanu is fighting for their freedom and self-determination, Ndigbo and the entire Biafrans people, are prepared for that freedom and self-determination as a people. That is, how prepared they are as a people, to fight and demand, till the end, for their freedom as a people, as well as for the freedom of that their illegally and unjustly, incarcerated son and warrior, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu.

But if Ndigbo as a people and other Biafrans, are not ready yet, or prepared to demand and reclaim their freedom and attain self-rule and independence, as a people, that is where the problem lies. If only what they feel they want and need today as a people is for their political class and rulers to continue to agitate for political positions of 'presidency, vice-presidency, president of senate, or speaker of House of Representatives, governor of states, ministers, and what have you, in Nigeria, just as the present crop of Igbo politicians are shameless doing, then forget it. Ndigbo will continue to suffer as slaves, and lament of marginalisation and maltreatment in Nigeria until thy kingdom come!

This is the naked truth, which many are afraid to tell themselves. Thus, they have continued to deceive themselves and the gullible public into believing that there will ever come such a time, an Igbo will be allowed to be president of Nigeria, or be elected or appointed into any sensitive political office in this British colonial created contraption, called Nigeria! As if an Igbo becoming the president of Nigeria will even change anything to the present plight of Ndigbo and other oppressed ethnic groups and peoples in the British contraption, called Nigeria!

The Release of Nnamdi Kanu is the Greatest Challenge Facing Ndigbo Today

Make no mistake about it: The release of Nnamdi Kanu is the greatest challenge facing Ndigbo today! As long as MNK is still being held in that Nigerian government dungeon, DSS or whatever, the entire Igbo nation is in detention! As long as Nnamdi Kanu is still being detained by the Nigerian State in that DSS dungeon, no Igbo person should be proud to parade himself or herself as 'somebody' of any significance or importance in Nigeria today! The fact is that the present Nigerian government and the corrupt politicians are using the continued illegal detention of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, as a metaphor for the humiliation of Ndigbo in Nigeria today. Therefore, let nobody from Igboland think that because of his or her position in office in Nigeria, that he or she is not sharing in that collective humiliation of Igbo people and nation by the present federal government of Nigeria and their collaborators from the Southeast. The irony of history is that the oppressor uses some individuals from among the oppressed people to continue to keep the oppressed in humiliating conditions and servitude. Without few of the Igbo politicians and elites who are serving as spin-offs and enablers of the oppression of Ndigbo in Nigeria today, the oppressors would have never succeeded in Igboland the way they have succeeded presently. And this is the problem!

This is why we shall continue to emphasize, that the release of MNK will not depend on the Nigerian Court ruling. As the last Federal Appeal Court, Abuja that discharged him on October 13, 2022, have shown. Because after that Federal Appeal Court Abuja ruling of October 13, 2022, what did the powers that be do? Did they release him? Of course, no. Because since then, the same Nigerian government whose Federal Appeal Court's ruling discharged Nnamdi Kanu and orders that he be released, had since then refused to obey its own court order, and has up till today, not released the IPOB leader.

Therefore, the freedom and release of MNK, will not depend on the rulings of the Nigerian courts. Rather, it will depend largely on what is happening on the ground in Igboland. That is, on the intensity and aggressiveness of the civil disobedience protests on the ground in Igboland, ignited for that matter by Kanu's Igbo and Biafran people, for his immediate and unconditional release. Nnamdi Kanu's release will come about through the collective efforts and coordinated ACTIONS of MNK's own kinsmen and women, Ndigbo, other Biafrans, and conscientious individuals, that really love him, and who sincerely and truly, want him released, seek the freedom and self-determination of Ndigbo and Biafrans in general.

Only such collective, selfless efforts, steadfastness, sincerity, consistency, and unity of purpose of Ndigbo as a people, that is going to Free and Release Nnamdi Kanu from the dungeon of the Nigerian Government. And only such can lead to the eventual coming of Biafra in our life time. And this is what Nnamdi Kanu, for those who really know him, stood for and has put his life on the line, for the freedom, justice, and welfare of his people as well as for that of the other trapped indigenous ethnic groups and marginalised people in Nigeria!

Unity of purpose, selfless efforts, sincerity, honesty, steadfastness, consistency and collective determination of Ndigbo in particular, in the pursuit of the same goal of freedom for the attainment of their own self-rule as an independent sovereign nation state of Biafra - the same goal for which Nnamdi Kanu is languishing today in the dungeon of the enemy, is what will force the powers that be, to release him forthwith. It is also what will make them to begin to initiate a true and sincere, constructive process of dialogue for the coming of Biafra, and to begin to accord the Igbo man or woman, the respect due to them as a people, in Nigeria and beyond!

It is fruitless for Igbo politicians and other members of the ruling class and elites in Igboland and Diasporas, to continue to think that it is by fighting to be relevant in Nigeria by the so-called elected politicians from Igboland, or them pushing for more political appointments, or for an Igbo man or woman to be made President, or to become Vice-President of Nigeria, President of the Senate, or Speaker of the House of Representatives, federal minister, etc., is what Ndigbo needs today in Nigeria! Neither is it what they as a people need to be relevant and reclaim their wounded humanity and dignity.

It is also not by the Igbo Politicians themselves, embarrassing themselves, dancing naked in the marketplace, in Nigeria's political scene, fighting or agitating shamelessly, during and after every general election in Nigeria, asking for Ndigbo to be accepted by other Nigerians of other ethnic groups, or to be integrated into the mainstream of Nigeria and Nigeria's governmental structure, etc., is what Ndigbo and other Easterners want today, in this 21st century as a people? To think in that way, is like reasoning like a demented person, or like those individuals from Igboland who parade themselves today in Nigeria, as Igbo leaders and politicians, while in actual fact they are political jobbers and enablers of the subjugation of their own people by the oppressor.

Those who still think that is through fighting for political posts or appointments in government offices of the Nigerian state, that Ndigbo as a people will advance and become something in the world, are deluding themselves. Such individuals don't want to tell themselves the naked truth. Because, all that means, is that Ndigbo have not learned any lessons from their past history and experience in Nigeria as a people! That they have not learned anything from all that they have passed through and are still passing through as a people and as individuals, all these while in the Nigerian State. And this is the problem.

What Ndigbo needs now is ACTION, concrete, collective action, on the ground in Igboland and in Diasporas, towards their emancipation as a people, and towards their attainment of self-determination away from the Nigerian State! It is a collective and aggressive, well-coordinated ACTION that will propel the gatekeepers of the Nigerian State, to obey their own Court Orders and RELEASE MNK unconditionally with immediate effect. The Collective Action of Ndigbo and the entire Biafran People, who truly, love Nnamdi Kanu and want him Released with immediate effect, is what is needed now. The release of Nnamdi Kanu will signal the freedom of his people, the advent of their collective aspiration as a people.

In other words, if you continue to depend on what the Nigerian Court is doing or telling you, they are not going to Release MNK in the nearest future. So, the earlier the Ndigbo and other Easterners, Biafran people, and all lovers of MNK and freedom of the Biafra, begin to intensify the pressure, and re-activate more stringent measures of Civil Disobedience against the Nigerian State; put more pressures on all those self-serving, corrupt Southeast governors and other members of the ruling class from Igboland, all of them that participated in betraying and in the selling of MNK to the enemy, the better for us all.

Otherwise, those people holding MNK are not dreaming of letting him go tomorrow! That is, unless something extraordinary happens. Just as they used an Extraordinary means of EXTRAORDINARY RENDITION & KIDNAPPING in a foreign land, to forcefully, bring him back to Nigeria! Unless, something extraordinary that checks the very foundation of the fraudulent Nigerian State and government - its faulty foundation, and its fraudulent and shambolic political system or structure, is ignited, those people holding MNK are not in anyway thinking of releasing him soon! And this is too bad.

The Nigerian government that has refused to obey the previous Judgment and Ruling of its own Court, which Discharged MNK, how do you think that even if the same Court delivers a Judgment today that orders for the RELEASE of MNK, a second time, that the same Nigerian Government holding the IPOB leader in solitary confinement, is going to release him? Impossibile est.

It is needless to hope that the court of the same Nigerian Government that kidnapped, extraordinary renditioned, and is holding MNK in detention for over two years (since June 2021 to date), a second time after their first incarceration of the IPOB leader (that of 2015-2017), will ever agree to release him today without serious pressures coming from MNK's Igbo and Biafran people? The freedom of MNK is on the hands of his people of the Southeastern Nigeria, in particular. After, he was betrayed and handed over to the hands of the enemy by the self-serving, corrupt Southeast governors and elites and other corrupt members of the ruling class from the same region, in June 2021, don't think that these his tormentors are in a hurry to let him go home to his people! Know you therefore, that those who are behind his ordeal, all those who contributed in one way or the other in betraying him and in handing him over to the Jihadist-driven federal government of Nigeria, the same people are responsible for his continued incarceration in the DSS dungeon. Period!

Mind you: What we have in Nigeria today and call it 'Federal Government of Nigeria', if truth be told, is a 'Jihadist-driven' government, that started to manifest openly and arrogantly since May 2015, when former President Muhammadu Buhari came to power under the APC mantra. The Tinubu-Shettima Muslim-Muslim ticket Presidency that succeeded the Buhari regime is a continuation of the same old regime of President Buhari.

That's why those in the corridors of power in Nigeria, could go to that extent of travelling to another country, in East Africa, Kenya, to abduct MNK, whose only offence is because he was agitating, peacefully, with Biafra flags and solidarity songs, asking that Referendum for Self-Determination for the independence of the sovereign state of Biafra, be granted to his persecuted and marginalised people in Eastern Nigeria!

Self-determination and Referendum are all protected by both the International and Municipal Laws, including, the United Nations' Convention and African Union's Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights! Nnamdi Kanu has not committed any crime known to law by agitating for Biafra. Why then should the Nigerian government go to that extent of kidnapping and extraordinary rendition of someone who is running away to save his life from such a Gov't? Why is the Nigerian Government after Nnamdi Kanu and not after the Miyetti Allah, Sponsors of the dreaded marauding Fulani killer-herdsmen? Why is the Nigerian Government still keeping Nnamdi Kanu in the DSS dungeon even when the Federal Appeal Court has ordered that he be released? And the same Nigerian Federal Government is everyday releasing from prisons and detention centres, members of the Boko Haram, ISIS-ISWAP and other Islamist terrorists' organisations from Northern Nigeria?

This tells you that the continued incarceration of MNK by the Nigerian government has nothing to do with the so-called treason felony charges or anything of sort. It is simply, the same chronic Igbo hate and resentment that the British implanted in Nigeria among other ethnic nationalities against Ndigbo and against anything Igbo, that is at play here. And it is still how Chinua Achebe has predicted of its toxic effects in the Nigerian political climate, in his epic book, "The Trouble with Nigeria" (1983). Where the renowned author and doyen of African Literature, said that in his own estimation, "Igbo hate and resentment", is one of the major reasons for Nigeria's backwardness and underdevelopment!

Fr. Francis Anekwe Oborji is a Roman Catholic Priest, is Professor Ordinarius of contextual theology at the Pontifical Urbaniana University, Rome.