Broadcasters
There are moments when silence becomes cowardice -and this is one of them. Omoyele Sowore’s decision to mobilise Nigerians to “free” Nnamdi Kanu, an individual whose words and followers have brought blood and terror upon innocent citizens, is not activism. It is a dangerous act of moral blindness that insults the memories of the dead and the pain of the living.
Let’s be clear: no one is attacking Sowore’s right to protest. Peaceful dissent is the cornerstone of democracy. But when a so-called protest glorifies someone who, on record — both in video and audio — called for Nigerians to be killed, properties to be burned, and the nation to be torn apart, then that protest becomes a national disgrace. Freedom of expression is not a licence to excuse terror.
The facts are undeniable. Under Nnamdi Kanu’s directive, mobs took to the streets of the South-East, enforcing illegal sit-at-home orders, burning markets, attacking police stations, and murdering innocent people — including the very Igbos they claimed to defend. The region once celebrated for commerce and education now lives under a reign of fear. Parents are afraid to send children to school. Traders are afraid to open their shops. The blood of countless Nigerians cries out for justice.
And yet, instead of standing with victims, Sowore has chosen to side with their tormentor. What does he seek to achieve — chaos? Relevance? A new round of unrest? History will remember that when Nigerians needed moral clarity, a man who once fought for liberty decided to flirt with anarchy.
Even more telling is that Kanu’s right-hand man, Simon Ekpa, has been convicted and jailed in Finland for promoting terrorism — a conviction that further exposes the global dimension of this criminal enterprise. If a European court, after fair trial, can recognise the terror this movement unleashed, why should any responsible Nigerian pretend otherwise?
True activism demands conscience, not convenience. You cannot claim to defend human rights by defending a man who trampled on the rights of others. You cannot preach democracy while empowering those who destroyed democratic order in their own homeland. Leadership comes with responsibility, and words have consequences — especially in a nation still healing from division and bloodshed.
If there are genuine concerns about Nnamdi Kanu’s treatment, let the courts handle it. Let his lawyers pursue justice through the proper channels. But no Nigerian with a conscience
should march in support of someone whose followers turned towns into war zones and villages into graveyards.
The South-East deserves peace, not propaganda. Nigeria deserves healing, not hostility. And Sowore must be reminded that no one — not even a self-styled revolutionary — has the moral right to defend those who have waged war against their own people.
Activism without conscience is complicity. And any protest that ignores the blood of the innocent is not freedom — it is betrayal.
