Femi
Fani-Kayode recounts his 21-day experience in the underground EFCC
detention facility in Abuja and being placed in the Boko Haram cell of
the Kuje Medium Security Prison for four day. He also tells of his
impression of Nnamdi Kanu whom he spent three hours with.
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 Economic and Financial Crimes
Commission, 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 gruelling 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 rearrested 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 Dr. Reuben Abati, the former
spokesman to President Goodluck Jonathan.
During the course of my 21 day
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 26 million naira cash from the former National Security
Advisor, 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 4 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 Mr. Kanu 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 Kanu 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.
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.
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.
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”.
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 last
few weeks with this appetiser permit me get to the meat of it and now
serve the main dish of this contribution. (TO BE CONTINUED).
Femi
Fani-Kayode is a lawyer, a Nigerian politician, an evangelical
christian, an essayist, a poet and he was the Special Assistant (Public
Affairs) to President Olusegun Obasanjo from July 2003 until June 2006.
He was the minister of culture and tourism of the Federal Republic of
Nigeria from June 22nd to Nov 7th 2006 and as the minister of Aviation
from Nov 7th 2006 to May 29th 2007. He tweets from@realFFK.
The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author.
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