by Jibunma Anthony-Spinks
The question has often been raised as to whether President Tinubu would be magnanimous enough to use his constitutional power of ‘prerogative of mercy’ as President and Commander-in-Chief of Nigeria’s Armed Forces to release Nnamdi Kanu, the Nigeria-born British political activist who is now in the custody of DSS for advocating for the secession and independence of Biafra from Nigeria? It has been suggested that if Kanu is released, there would be peace in the troubled South East. Specifically, section 175 of the Nigerian constitution stipulates that “the President may grant any person concerned with or convicted of any offence created by an Act of the National Assembly a pardon”. So, can the President pardon Nnamdi Kanu, perhaps as a Christmas present to Ndigbo? Many would say, “Yes, he can.”
But not every political prisoner that goes to jail comes back alive, not to talk of coming back at all. In modern times, we have seen a few notable jail survivors in Africa. Nelson Mandela spent 27 years in prison for opposing South Africa’s apartheid system for which he won a Nobel Peace Prize and eventually regained his freedom and became the country’s first black head of state. Our own Olusegun Obasanjo, a distinguished elder statesman, was openly critical of Abacha’s regime and in 1995, he was arrested and sentenced by a military court to life imprisonment for a trumped charge of taking part in a planned coup, despite protesting his innocence. While in prison, we were told he became a born-again Christian. He was released following Abacha’s death in 1998, after which he entered politics as PDP candidate for the 1999 presidential election which he won.
Going farther back into history, some political prisoners were not as lucky as Mandela and Obasanjo. In ancient Rome, a certain Gallic king and rebel, Vercingetorix, was captured by Julius Caesar and locked away in the Mamertine dungeon that was then Rome’s most infamous underground prison where he languished for years awaiting his execution. His sin was that he led the Gallic resistance of his people against Roman invasion in which the ‘almighty’ Julius Caesar was almost defeated. Vercingetorix was the son of Celtillus, a nobleman who sought to restore the Gaul kingdom of his people and was killed in the process such that his martyrdom cast an enduring spectre of bravery and heroism upon his son.
It was recorded that Vercingetorix was a dangerous adversary to Caesar, and he managed to mobilize a broad alliance of both enemies and friends of the Romans, using a deadly scorched earth strategy to decimate Caesar’s forces. At last, and with his forces exhausted, he surrendered himself in battle in exchange for his men’s lives. But could Caesar have pardoned him on account of prerogative of mercy? As part of Caesar’s victory feast at the Battle of Alesia, Vercingetorix was paraded through the streets of Rome in 46 BC and then executed by garrotting. In other words, he was strangled to death by Caesar’s men.
This notwithstanding, it is on record that Julius Caesar was famous for forgiving his enemies and even friends who double-crossed or rebelled against him, a typical example being Brutus with whose mother he had a love affair; needless to add the popular Shakespearean quote: “Et tu Brute?” Caesar was kind to his defeated rivals, granting them amnesty, and even inviting some to join his government.
This magnanimity endeared his memory to the hearts of generations of Romans and people across the world till date. President Tinubu may not be a soldier or a war strategist in the mould of Julius Caesar, but he too has never been known to bear a grudge for too long even against his own enemies both as a person and as a politician.
The continued detention of Kanu has been a subject of controversy across the country, thus heightening tensions in the already overheated and highly volatile South East. Not a few notable individuals and groups have urged the Federal Government to release the IPOB leader, prominent among whom were the presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Mr Peter Obi, the South-East Governors, and Ndigbo elders. At a time it was rumoured that the immediate past President, Muhammadu Buhari, was considering the possibility of releasing him, but nothing came out of it until he left Aso Rock.
Nnamdi Kanu’s detention has been a source of unrest and agitation within the South East. Many are of the opinion that his release would help to forestall protests and violence, and stem the tide of political instability in the country, as well as improve relations between the government and Ndigbo, particularly pro-Biafra groups.
Presently, sentiments are growing that what began as a truly democratic dispensation under Tinubu’s administration may gradually be undermined by anti-democratic elements within his government. Speaking purely from the point of view of an unbiased non-South-Easterner, the present situation may therefore offer an opportunity for President Tinubu to reaffirm his well-known love for democratic principles and his usual predilection for the wishes and aspirations of the people by granting Kanu a presidential pardon. This singular act may turn out as one that would live forever in the memory of generations of Nigerians as a mark of a statesman comparable only to the magnanimity and clemency of Julius Caesar in Rome. To grant a presidential pardon to Kanu at no other time than yuletide would be the utmost icing on the cake not only for Ndigbo but for all the good people of this country.
*Anthony-Spinks writes from the Delta State Public Procurement Commission, Asaba.
