A former Chief of Army Staff, Gen. Alani Akinrinade (rtd) has compared agitation being led by Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, and Ken Saro-Wiwa, late leader of the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP).

Akinrinade told Punch that the latter went about his agitation in an intellectual context which attracted sympathy from many Nigerians and the international community.


Ken, writer and environmental activist, was killed alongside his colleagues in 1995 by the Abacha government.

The chieftain of the defunct National Democratic Coalition, NADECO, was reacting to federal government’s handling of the agitation.

He, however, warned that Biafra and other agitators should not be treated as hoodlums.


His words: “It is usually treasonable to take up arms against one’s country – even to have violent demonstrations. But, one must keep asking oneself: why?

“Why would a normal person, especially from the educated class, participate in anything that would be either illegal or dangerous?

“It is not good for us to look at these people (pro-Biafra agitators) as just hoodlums. We know how Isaac Adaka Boro was treated.


“He didn’t have military knowledge. If he did, Nigeria would have been a different place today. So, eventually he died.

“The next charge was led by an intellectual (Ken Saro-Wiwa) and it’s not different from what these boys (pro-Biafra agitators) are doing now and asking for – except that he put his own in a very intellectual context and tried to make us reason with him.

“What did we do? The government hanged him, hoping his ideas would die with him in the noose. That’s where we still are today.

“Therefore, whether Nnamdi Kanu embarked on his agitation the right or the wrong way, the question is: what prompted such agitation?

“Why would anybody keep talking about Biafra after the carnage, the wanton destruction of lives and properties and the psychological trauma brought upon Nigerians, not just people from the East?

“I don’t have the mind to condemn the Indigenous People of Biafra, the (Niger Delta) Avengers, and other groups. Who created the situation for these people to think differently from us?” Akinrinade said.

sarrki:
Ken saro wiwa is a legend

While Mazi is a criminal

Its an insult to compare the two

omenkaLives:
Who doesn't know the idiot is a dunce being cheered on and worshiped by bigger dunces?

Only uses ethnicity and religion to build a political base and opposed to sound reason and logic.

I pray he leads them out. We could use far fewer dunces iN this country honestly.

AlienRobot:
Seriously speaking and without missing words, I think Nwankwo Kanu is more popular than this kanu they keep ranting about

Agumbankembu:

One went with textbook intellince, one is brash and says it as it is.
Saro is dead, Kanu is alive.

nerodenero:
Saro Wiwa's agitation was during the military regime, the reason he was killed. If it was still military regime, Nnamdi Kanu would have been killed too.

Agumbankembu:


One went with textbook intellince, one is brash and says it as it is.

Saro is dead, Kanu is alive.

sarrki:
Ken saro wiwa is a legend

While Mazi is a criminal

Its an insult to compare the two

sarrki:
Ken saro wiwa is a legend

While Mazi is a criminal

Its an insult to compare the two

omenkaLives:
Who doesn't know the idiot is a dunce being cheered on and worshiped by bigger dunces?

Only uses ethnicity and religion to build a political base and opposed to sound reason and logic.

I pray he leads them out. We could use far fewer dunces iN this country honestly.

omenkaLives:
Who doesn't know the idiot is a dunce being cheered on and worshiped by bigger dunces?

Only uses ethnicity and religion to build a political base and opposed to sound reason and logic.

I pray he leads them out. We could use far fewer dunces iN this country honestly.

Agumbankembu:


One went with textbook intellince, one is brash and says it as it is.

Saro is dead, Kanu is alive.

omenkaLives:
Who doesn't know the idiot is a dunce being cheered on and worshiped by bigger dunces?

Only uses ethnicity and religion to build a political base and opposed to sound reason and logic.

I pray he leads them out. We could use far fewer dunces iN this country honestly.

Ojiofor:


Nigeria will collapse with the departure of Igbo nation so stop deluding yourself,your masters up North knows this fact.

Agumbankembu:


Forget the headline, read the main content. Tnx.

felicitywe:

no we dont pray nigeria breaks.once biafra comes,our prayer is to help them keep nigeria together and that we must promise the north.

Jesusloveyou:
and the people that hang an hero saro will also hang criminal cownu

omenkaLives:
Who doesn't know the idiot is a dunce being cheered on and worshiped by bigger dunces?

Only a dunce uses ethnicity and religion to build a political base and opposed to sound reason and logic.

I pray he leads them out. We could use far fewer dunces in this country honestly.

omenkaLives:
Who doesn't know the idiot is a dunce being cheered on and worshiped by bigger dunces?

Only a dunce uses ethnicity and religion to build a political base and opposed to sound reason and logic.

I pray he leads them out. We could use far fewer dunces in this country honestly.