“Tinubu Government Detained Nnamdi Kanu For Years But Pardoned Drug Dealers, Criminals, Terrorists” – Sowore
Paul Ebi
Sowore questioned the rationale behind the pardons by the President accusing the Tinubu-led government of hypocrisy and injustice.
Fiery human rights activist, Omoyele Sowore, has condemned President Bola Tinubu over what he described as a pattern of selective justice in the recent presidential pardons granted to convicted criminals.
This is just as the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, remains in detention without conviction.
Sowore stated this on Thursday while addressing traders at the popular Gudu market in Abuja ahead of a planned protest tagged #FreeNnamdiKanuNow.
Sowore questioned the rationale behind the pardons by the President accusing the Tinubu-led government of hypocrisy and injustice.
He said, “If anybody should know about criminality, it’s drug dealers and the President pardoned 53 of them last week.
“If anyone should be feared, it’s murderers yet the President pardoned a woman who killed her husband. And if anyone should be dissatisfied, it should be bribe-takers but the President has pardoned the number one bribe taker in the country, Farouk.
“Meanwhile, our brother who was kidnapped from Kenya is still being made to face trial, even though he has not committed any crime. We reject that, and I have volunteered to lead this fight.”
The activist clarified that the agitation for Kanu’s release was not about ethnicity but about justice, stressing that the movement cuts across all regions and ethnic backgrounds.
“This is not a Yoruba, Hausa or Igbo fight it is a fight for justice. When we went to Wuse market, the majority of those who joined us were Hausas. At Dei-Dei, the Yorubas joined.
“Forget the propaganda about counter-protests, everyone has the right to protest, but when people rise against impunity, even those planning counter-protests will flee.”Sowore dismissed claims that his activism was politically motivated, stating that genuine politicians seeking votes would not align with controversial causes.
“They say I’m doing this for politics or votes. Tell me, those seeking votes will associate with Nnamdi Kanu? Politicians who want votes are even afraid to mention his name. If I wanted votes, I’d just go to INEC, buy them, win elections, and tell everyone to go to court,” he said.
The former presidential candidate also took a swipe at some political leaders from the South-East for their alleged hypocrisy, accusing them of using the courts as an excuse to avoid confronting injustice.
“They say Kanu’s case is in court and must take its course. But when they were charged for corruption, did they go to court? No, they joined the ruling party and the cases disappeared. Yet, when it’s an innocent man, they suddenly start preaching about due process.
What they really want is to keep Kanu in jail until we start begging for his pardon.”Sowore emphasised that the call was not for clemency but for justice, asserting that Kanu has not been convicted of any crime.“I am not here to plead for pardon or amnesty that’s for those who have been convicted. For ten years, they have moved Kanu from one hospital to another without finding a single piece of evidence against him.
Even a DSS officer admitted that nothing incriminating was found on him. How then is he a terrorist?”Recalling his own ordeal, Sowore noted that he was charged with treason in 2019 alongside Kanu, adding that the government later abandoned the case.“I was charged with treason in 2019, together with Nnamdi Kanu.
They said we should go to court, but till today they have disappeared. That’s how you know a failed government and a corrupt system,” he said.
The activist called on Nigerians to join the planned protest scheduled for Monday, beginning at the Unity Fountain in Abuja before proceeding to the Presidential Villa.“By 7am on Monday, we gather at the Unity Fountain. From there, we march to Aso Rock to demand our brother’s release. We will not stop halfway.
Are there not at least one million people in Abuja who can volunteer their time and courage to free a man unjustly detained?” he asked.Sowore urged Nigerians to rise above ethnic sentiments and unite against oppression, insisting that injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.“We fight for Palestinians we don’t know, yet we cannot defend one of our own because of his tribe.
If Kanu belonged to a more favoured group, he would have been released by now perhaps even offered a government appointment,” he said.
He stated that former Niger Delta militants who once attacked security personnel and destroyed pipelines were later rewarded with wealth and privileges.“All those who blew up pipelines and killed soldiers are now billionaires. They were flown in presidential jets and celebrated,” he added.
