Obasanjo and I Survived Life Imprisonment, Nnamdi Kanu Will Be Fine — Shehu Sani

By Emmanuel Kwada 

Senator Shehu Sani has urged calm over Thursday’s life imprisonment sentence handed to IPOB leader Mazi Nnamdi Kanu by Justice James Kolawole Omotosho of the Federal High Court, saying both he and former President Olusegun Obasanjo were once condemned to spend the rest of their lives behind bars but walked out alive.

In a post on his verified X handle this morning, the former Kaduna Central lawmaker, who was jailed during the Sani Abacha regime, wrote:

“Sentencing a man to life imprisonment is not the end of his life. Some of us have been through life imprisonment and we survived it.

“I served my own life imprisonment in Aba Prison, Abia State, after spending one year in Kirikiri and Port Harcourt prisons. The inmates and warders treated me well, except for a few tough guys.

“There is still room for dialogue to resolve the issue in the interest of peace. Life imprisonment is a phase and not the end.

“One of my prison cell mates who was also sentenced to life imprisonment was OBJ.

“So make una calm down.”

Senator Sani’s remark is one of the first major public reactions from a prominent northern political figure since Kanu was convicted on seven counts of terrorism and sentenced to life imprisonment yesterday. The IPOB leader was immediately transferred from DSS custody in Abuja to Sokoto Medium Security Custodial Centre, a move that has sparked outrage among his supporters who describe it as a deliberate attempt to isolate and endanger him.

While many IPOB sympathisers have flooded social media with messages of anger and threats of unrest, Senator Sani’s message projects restraint and optimism, reminding followers that even death and life sentences under military rule were eventually overturned by political changes.

As of the time of this report, neither the presidency nor the federal government has commented on the senator’s statement.