My 3hrs conversation with Nnamdi Kanu in Kuje prison- Fani-Kayode

Permit me to begin this contribution with an
apology for my disappearance from the literary
and political scene for the last one month but
this was due to circumstances beyond my
control.
On October 21st, five days after my 56th
birthday, I was arrested by the EFCC without
an arrest warrant at the premises of the
Federal High Court in Lagos where I had been
earlier granted bail. Thereafter I was illegally
detained by them without any detention order
for 21 days.
Kindly note that this was after I had been
detained by them for a grueling 67 days 6
months ago (from 9th of May till July 15th),
brought before the Federal High Court in
Lagos, arraigned on spurious and politically-
motivated charges and locked up in Ikoyi
prison for a number of days whilst I attempted
to perfect my court bail.
After perfecting bail, on 21st October I was re-
arrested and the whole nightmare began
again: only this time it was far more insidious
and worse.
Throughout the time of the second detention I
was kept in a dingy underground cell at the
EFCC headquarters in Abuja where I met a
number of other high profile opposition figures
like Senator Bala Mohammed, the former
Minister of the Federal Capital Territory,
Senator Musiliu Obanikoro, the former Minister
of State for Defence and Mr. Reuben Abati,
the former spokesman to President Goodluck
Jonathan.
During the course of my 21 days incarceration,
my abductors did not ask me any questions or
say one word to me other than to formally
serve me with a new set of fresh criminal
charges the morning after I got there which I
simply signed for.
After that I heard nothing from them and I was
told nothing though I had daily visits to the
medical clinic at the EFCC due to my
deteriorating health.
Three weeks later, on November 10th, I was
brought before the Federal High Court in Abuja
and arraigned on yet another set of spurious,
baseless and politically-motivated charges.
These ones were even more ridiculous and far-
fetched than the first set in Lagos. I was
falsely accused of receiving N26 million cash
from the former National Security Adviser,
Colonel Sambo Dasuki, for media work for the
Jonathan administration in 2014.
Thankfully, I was granted bail by the court and
I was detained at Kuje prison for a further four
days whilst I attempted to perfect my bail.
At Kuje I was kept in the terrorist wing of the
prison which was built by the British
government specifically for Boko Haram
convicts and suspects.
There were 47 of them in the facility and I
was with them throughout. These were tough,
disciplined, hardened, surprisingly well-
educated and intimidating men.
The single cells and the entire terrorist section
of the prison was pervaded by an eerie silence
throughout the night and low tone whispers
throughout the day. The only thing that broke
the monotony of silence was the regular and
constant call to Muslim prayers and the loud
and regular cries of “Allahu Akbar”.
This was a frightful place and those that were
locked up there were very dangerous and
frightful people yet thankfully the Lord went
ahead of me.
The single cells, though small, were clean,
self-contained, well-ventilated, dry and very
neat. The inmates were surprisingly very kind
and friendly towards me and turned out to be
my best friends and bodyguards whenever I
toured the other parts of the prison.
I was very impressed with them and when I
heard their stories and what some of them had
been subjected to by the security forces and
the state tears came to my eyes.
Most of those men were not Boko Haram
killers but had been falsely accused, tortured
and just dumped into prison and I felt nothing
but pain and sorrow when I heard their stories.
When I went to visit the great and brilliant
freedom fighter, Nnamdi Kanu, who is the
leader of IPOB and easily the most
courageous, powerful and credible Igbo leader
in Nigeria today in his cell, we had a very
instructive and long discussion.
I had never met Nnamdi before and I was
amazed at his depth of knowledge, his
immense courage and his deep convictions.
There is no doubt in my mind that that man is
going places and in him the Igbo have an
Ojukwu and a Nnamdi Azikiwe all rolled into
one. He is destined for greatness.
My Boko Haram friends accompanied me to
that meeting, drew a ten man security cordon
around me when we entered the general
population of the prison and waited outside as
Nnamdi and I spoke for almost three hours.
They even accompanied me to Church on
Sunday and waited outside until we finished.
Given what I have written about Boko Haram
in the past and given my total aversion to any
form of violence, terrorism and radical Islam,
this was a classic case of God granting me
favour before my enemies.
Everyone dreaded them in that prison but I am
proud to say that they were my friends and I
will never forget their courage, kindness and
fellowship for the rest of my life.
The enemy had placed me in the lions den but
the lions and their prey became the best of
friends. Not only were my Boko Haram section
mates very good to me but so were the other
inmates in the general prison population.
Not only that, the head of the prison DCP
Akilu Abdullah, his Chief warden and his entire
staff and team of prison wardens were firm,
courteous and professional not just to me but
to all the other inmates.
This was the doing of the Lord and it was
marvellous in my sight. Throughout my travails
I have never questioned God and I have been
inspired and comforted by His word which
says that in all things we must give thanks to
Him.
I am innocent of all the charges and
allegations and as I have said elsewhere the
whole thing is an attempt by the Federal
Government and an increasingly desperate
EFCC that is obsessed with my name and
putting me away to discredit, break and
silence me.
Yet, in all this I am not moved and neither can
I ever be broken or silenced because, like the
biblical Job, “I know that my Redeemer liveth”.
Like Shakespeare’s Macbeth, “my head is
bloodied but not bowed” and “I shall fight until
the flesh is hacked from my bones”.
And as that fight and struggle unfolds and
unwinds I take solace in the powerful and
beautiful words of the Victorian poet William
Ernest Henley in my favourite poem titled
‘Invictus’ which was written in 1875.
He wrote,
“Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.
In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.
Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds and shall find me unafraid.
It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate,
I am the captain of my soul”.
Like Nelson Mandela did at Robben Island
prison every day for 26 years, I recited that
poem three times a day on each and every day
of my total of 90 days detention this year. And
if I am arrested and detained again by the
EFCC or any of President Buhari’s other
numerous security or intelligence agencies, I
will continue to recite it. I have no fear of
what men or satan can do to me and I trust
and have faith in the God that I serve.
Having explained my absence for the few
weeks with this appetizer, permit me get to
the meat of it and now serve the main dish of
this contribution. (TO BE CONTINUED).