Sometimes you read something and cannot help but laugh out loud. It’s the eaction that we had to yesterday’s statement by the Indigenous People of Biafra claiming that their leader, Nnamdi Kanu has not for once since his release from Kuje Prison in April flouted his bail conditions.

LOL is right. Because they have to be kidding.

Otherwise who did they think would be fooled into believing that Nnamdi Kanu has not flouted his bail conditions:

“Nnamdi Kanu never flouted his bail conditions because the court said he should not go for rallies or protests and he has never done that since his release. But citizens of Biafra and other parts of Nigeria want to see him, that is why you see him with people and these people come to his father’s house. He cannot chase those who want to see him away. Since his release he never called for any rally or protest or press conference. Don’t you know that if he wants to call the press he will call both local and international media? The court did not bar people from visiting him in his father’s compound. The court did not say he should not visit anyone in the society. Therefore, the security operatives have no justification to re-arrest him because he has never gone beyond their limit or held any rally or protest.”

Not are we sure that Emma Powerful, the author of this statement intentionally leave out some of, twist or maybe just misunderstood the conditions upon which Nnamdi Kanu was granted bail in April, it appears that he had the intention to mislead a lot of people with this statement.

[Did you miss this? “Jesus is fiction; Nnamdi Kanu is real”]

Just last week, investigative journalist, Kadaria Ahmed posted videos showing thousands of people gathered at the home of the IPOB leader in Abia State. In one of them, he is seen egging the shouting supporters on by raising his hands. One of the conditions upon which Justice Binta Nyanko granted Nnamdi, who is being tried for treason, bail is that he must never be in a crowd or in a gathering of more than ten people. Let’s even say from that video, he gets off “being in a crowd” on a technicality (after all, we don’t know that he called the crowd nor did he jump in their midst like the hero that he is), by our count, those on the balcony where Nnamdi was waving from are clearly more than ten.

Yet, we are not trying to be reactionary or hard on Mr Powerful in case last week’s incident is what he used as the basis of his statement. So let’s look at all the other times that Nnamdi Kanu clearly flouted his bail conditions (including speaking with both local and international media):

Being in a crowd of more than 10 people

When Justice Binta Nyako granted Nnamdi Kanu bail in April, it was on the condition that the IPOB leader must never be in a crowd or a gathering of more than 10 people. Yet, he showed up to this Shabbat Rally one weekend and addressed a more than a dozen people. Kanu must have either forgotten about his bail conditions or been oblivious to the fact that he was being recorded.

Attending a rally.

Justice Nyako also stressed, “that the defendant must not attend any rally”.

He not only attended it, it appears he headlined it.

Granting an interview

As can be expected, the bail conditions stipulate that he must make himself available for trial at all times while shunning every media interview.

[Watch Nnamdi Kanu shun a reporter]

But Nnamdi Kanu obviously cannot be bothered with anyone – especially not a Nigerian Judge – ordering him not to speak with Al-Jazeera because he did. And he bared his heart about how “nothing seems to be working in Nigeria and how his demand for secession of some Southern parts of Nigeria “is not self-determination for the sake of it, “but because Nigeria is not functioning and can never function”.

Meeting with “dozens of people”

“And with that Kanu stands up and goes outside to meet the people who have waited hours to see him.” is how the Al Jazeera feature writer, Chika Oduah, ended her piece. Suggesting that Nnamdi Kanu knowingly breached his bail condition not to be a gathering “exceeding 10 people”.

At the beginning of her article, she’d written of the scene at Kanu’s residence where she interviewed him:

“I can’t allow large [groups of] people to basically congregate outside to see me … it’s like asking me not to breathe,” he [Nnamdi Kanu] says… On the other side of the parlour door, dozens of people are waiting to see Kanu. A throng of young men dressed in black guard the compound. They refer to Kanu as, “our supreme leader” or “his royal highness”.

The only difference between this recent video and the strong imagery painted by Chika Oduah is that from the video, we do not see Nnamdi actually “physically” meeting the people outside his home. Although both situation actually convey him “meeting with people” even if we do not know that he talked to them directly.

Another interview

This time he was content with loca media, Vanguard Newspapers.