Onoh criticizes Kanu’s conviction, highlights double standard in de-radicalisation of Northern terrorists

By Dennis Agbo

The former Southeast spokesperson to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Denge Josef Onoh, has condemned the Federal Government’s conviction of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), warning that the move, while simultaneously de-radicalising suspected terrorists in northern Nigeria, reflects a dangerous double standard.

Onoh said the approach is a grave miscalculation that threatens Nigeria’s fragile unity more than the actions it seeks to punish.

“While no one condones violence or the loss of innocent lives, the glaring double standard being applied cannot be ignored,” Onoh said. He pointed out that the government has invested billions of naira in rehabilitation programs for repentant Boko Haram terrorists, many of whom confessed to slaughtering thousands, destroying communities, and displacing millions.

“Yet for Nnamdi Kanu, whose agitation—though provocative—has largely been non-violent in seeking self-determination, the prosecution demands the harshest penalty,” he added.

Onoh warned that selective justice is perceived by millions of Igbo youths and the wider Southeast population as deliberate marginalisation and provocation.

He also drew historical parallels, noting that extrajudicial actions, such as the killing of Boko Haram founder Mohammed Yusuf in 2009, did not end insurgency but instead intensified it.

“Executing Nnamdi Kanu will not silence legitimate grievances; it risks radicalising an entire generation and legitimising violence as the only language the Nigerian state understands,” he said.

Onoh urged the government to pursue political dialogue, reconciliation, and equitable justice, emphasizing that tempering justice with mercy is not weakness, but wisdom.

“Those who refuse to learn from history are condemned not merely to repeat it, but to repeat it in a far worse and more destructive form. May God save Nigeria from the consequences of avoidable mistakes,” he concluded.

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