Today, my world shattered into a thousand irreparable pieces. Nnamdi Kanu, a man who dared to voice the unvoiced, has been sentenced to life imprisonment. It feels like a profound injustice not just for him, but for all of us who dared to hope for a Biafra reborn.

As I sit in the shadows of this reality, the weight of the verdict settles heavily in my chest. Seven counts of terrorism,each accusation a blade cutting deeper into the heart of our struggle. How can words, mere expressions of longing for justice and recognition, be twisted into something so monstrous? Through his voice, we found our own; through his courage, we learned to dream. Yet, today, that voice has been silenced, and I am left grappling with the echoes of his passion.

His legal team, led by Aloy Ejimakor, has declared this day one of infamy. I can feel their anguish reverberate through the air; it's a pain that mirrors my own. “A man convicted for simply what he said,” Ejimakor proclaimed, and I am struck by how true those words ring. Kanu has not harmed anyone physically; instead, he sought to awaken our collective consciousness. The verdict, he argues, is cruel and disproportionate. I can only nod in silent agreement, grappling with the implications of this decision for our freedom of expression and our very identity.

Nnamdi’s journey has been a tumultuous one, marked by an arrest that felt like an ambush, an extradition that tore him away from those who believe in his dream. In 2021, they took him from Kenya, and it felt as if they were taking our hope along with him. Protests erupted, filled with anguished cries for his release,each chant a desperate plea for justice. But today, the state, with its cold calculations, has twisted our cries into the very justification for his imprisonment.

The state’s prosecutors, buoyed by a life sentence they see as a victory, speak of national security and law, but their words taste bitter. Prosecutor Adegboyega Awomolo’s proclamation that “no one is above the law” rings hollow in the face of our reality. I can only wonder,what about the law of humanity? What about the right to speak, to dream, to yearn for a better life? We are all victims in this, suffocated by silence and fear.

For many, Nnamdi represents not just a man, but a movement,a flicker of hope against the backdrop of a painful history. The scars of the Nigerian Civil War still bleed in our soul, and his name echoes the longing for freedom that has been stifled for decades. How can we reconcile the horrors of our past with the silencing of those who dare to fight for our future?

As I sit in the quiet aftermath of this decision, I realize that our struggle is far from over. The conversation around national security versus civil liberties is one we must engage with fervor. I can only hope that as Kanu’s legal team prepares to challenge this verdict, we will not lose sight of the truth: that the pursuit of justice can never be a crime. Each of us carries a fragment of his dream within us, and while they may have taken him from us today, they will never extinguish our spirit.