By CHARLES IWUOHA

Rights activist and social crusader, Dr Bolaji O. Akinyemi, has drawn parallels between the recent Finnish court conviction of separatist leader Simon Ekpa for terrorism and the Canadian court?s ruling that declared the All Progresses Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) terrorist organisations.

Akinyemi, Board of Trustees Chairman, Project Victory Call Initiatives, drew the parallel while speaking with journalists, in Abakaliki, on Thursday.

He said: "The gavel has fallen twice?once in Canada and once in Finland?reminding us that justice, even if uneven, still speaks across borders.

?In Canada, the Immigration Appeal Division, ruling on the case of Douglas Egharevba, held that membership of the People?s Democratic Party (PDP) was enough to make him inadmissible into the country. The reason? Reasonable grounds existed to believe that the party, by systemic violence and subversion of democratic institutions, had crossed the line of civility.

?While no formal proscription of PDP?or its rival All Progressives Congress (APC)?was pronounced under Canadian law, the implication was stark: association with Nigeria?s dominant parties carried the stain of complicity in violence. For a court to so hold, without proof of personal wrongdoing, is a loud global indictment.

?Across Europe, in Finland, the hammer struck even harder. The P?ij?t-H?me District Court convicted Simon Ekpa, the self-proclaimed Prime Minister of the so-called Biafra Government-in-Exile, of terrorism-related offences. His crimes included incitement to terrorism, participation in a terrorist organisation, and facilitation of arms and explosives. The judgment was not symbolic?it carried a six-year prison sentence. No ambiguity. No immigration technicalities. Ekpa, guilty as charged.

?Placed side by side, these two pronouncements point us to one undeniable truth: while the right of any nation or people, including the Igbo, to seek self-determination is legitimate under international law, the world frowns heavily at violent options. Violence is the fast track to global isolation. IPOB, long caught between agitation and armed provocation, now stands at a crossroads. Reinvent themselves in line with non-violence, or forfeit the global sympathy needed to advance the cause of Biafra.

?But the other side of this coin cannot be ignored. What is good for the goose is good for the gander. If the Nigerian state applauds the Finnish court for sentencing Simon Ekpa, then it cannot dismiss the Canadian court?s ruling on the violent character of its two dominant parties, APC and PDP. One cannot cherry-pick justice abroad. To do so is hypocrisy of the highest order.

?This brings us home to the institutional failure of INEC, the body saddled with the regulation of political parties. If foreign courts are raising questions about the violent DNA of our parties, what has INEC done to sanitize the space? The answer is simple?nothing. Violence, thuggery, ballot snatching, vote-buying?these have become the enduring currencies of our elections, tolerated and normalized by a commission that should be an umpire but acts as an enabler.

?The judgments in Canada and Finland should be a mirror for us. They expose the shame we bury under propaganda. They call us out on the violence that has become the language of politics and agitation in Nigeria. They remind us that while democracy allows the pursuit of power and even self-determination, the path of violence discredits both the parties in government and the movements seeking freedom.

?APC, PDP, Simon Ekpa: guilty as charged. Different courts, different contexts, same verdict. Nigeria must now decide?shall we continue to export political violence as our most reliable product, or shall we embrace the hard but honourable work of building a nation where justice, fairness, and non-violence underpin our politics??

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