The Department of State Services, on Wednesday, dropped all charges filed against the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) leader, Nnamdi Kanu, at the Magistrate Court. The charges, which included counts of criminal conspiracy and ownership of an unlawful society, were withdrawn by the DSS in a bid to lead the Magistrate court to charge Nnamdi Kanu at the Federal High court. The reason for this change, it seems, is to charge him with the more important crime of terrorism, a trial only the Federal High Court has the jurisdiction to conduct. Meanwhile, despite the Magistrate Court granting Kanu bail since October, he has yet to be released by the DSS. This decision was reversed yesterday by Justice Ademola Adeniyi at the Federal High court, when he ordered an “immediate and unconditional release” of the IPOB leader.

It seems the Department of State Services is getting desperate thus, becoming more aggressive in efforts to convict Nnamdi Kanu. Its hasty decision to arrest him in October appears to have backfired on the security organisation. Preventing a man from being granted bail is denying him his rights. By their actions, they have inadvertently made him a hero of sorts in the Biafra agitation. There were calls for the Federal Government to tread softly when he was arrested, but it looks like those warnings have been ignored.

It would be a pyrrhic victory if the government succeeds in convicting Nnamdi Kanu for terrorism at the Federal High Court. Kanu will soon be released on bail and will receive a hero’s welcome at the Indigenous People of Biafra headquarters. The dissent the government was trying to stamp down has now advanced into areas in the south west of Nigeria.