Justice Must Be Consistent if Nigeria Truly Wants Peace, Not Jailing Kanu While Negotiating With Bandits

November 20, 2025

By Ayuba Doekyil 

With today’s life-imprisonment sentence handed down to Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, the Nigerian justice system has shown that it can act with firmness when it chooses to. 

For years, security agencies and the federal government accused the IPOB leader of serious offences, from encouraging attacks on security personnel to allegedly inspiring violent actions in the South-East. 

These accusations, whether accepted or rejected by different groups, have now ended in a judgment that sends Kanu to prison for life.

If the law decides that someone must face punishment, then the law should take its full course. This is the kind of justice many Nigerians have been asking for, a justice system that is bold and not influenced by politics.

But justice must not be selective.

Across the North, entire communities have suffered under the hands of bandits who kill, kidnap, and destroy without mercy. 

Yet, instead of facing the law, many of these bandits are described as “repentant.” Some are reintegrated into society. 

Government officials have even held open negotiations with them, while victims continue to mourn their losses. 

One of the loudest public defenders of these criminal groups is Sheik Ahmad Gumi, who has repeatedly visited bandit camps and publicly spoken in their favour, earning the label of a bandit apologist in the eyes of many Nigerians.

You cannot jail one man for life and negotiate comfort with others whose crimes, by public knowledge, are as deadly or worse. This is the double standard that continues to weaken trust in Nigeria’s justice system.

If the government believes in justice for Kanu, then it must show the same strength toward bandits across the North-West and North-East. 

Justice cannot be strong in one region and weak in another. It cannot be hard on some citizens and soft on others.

Public figures who defend or speak for violent groups, including Sheik Gumi, should also be held accountable. 

Anyone who supports or excuses criminality, whether a politician, cleric, or community leader, must answer to the law.

Today’s judgment should not end with Kanu. It should be the beginning of a justice system that treats everyone equally, bandits, their sponsors, their apologists, and anyone who breaks the law.

Only then can Nigeria truly build peace.

______________________

Ayuba Doekyil is an independent journalist and current affairs commentator.