The outlawed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has accused the Nigerian government of using the Supreme Court to subvert justice for its leader, Nnamdi Kanu.
The group disclosed this in a statement by its spokesperson, Emma Powerful, on Monday, which was forwarded to PREMIUM TIMES.
Background
Mr Kanu was first arrested in 2015 under the administration of former Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari.
The IPOB leader was later granted bail in April 2017. He fled the country after an invasion of his home in Afara-Ukwu, near Umuahia, Abia State, by the Nigerian military in September of that year.
He was re-arrested in Kenya and brought back to Nigeria in June 2021, about four years after he fled the country.
The Court of Appeal, Abuja, on 13 October 2022, held that the IPOB leader was extra-ordinarily renditioned to Nigeria and that the action was a flagrant violation of the country’s extradition treaty and also a breach of his fundamental human rights.
The court, therefore, struck out the terrorism charges filed against Mr Kanu by the Nigerian government and ordered his release from the State Security Service (SSS) in Abuja.
But the government refused to release the IPOB leader, insisting that he (Kanu) could be unavailable in subsequent court proceedings if released and that his release would cause insecurity in the South-east, where he comes from.
The government, through the Attorney-General of the Federation, later appealed the court ruling and subsequently obtained an order staying its execution at the Supreme Court.
Mr Kanu, on 3 November 2022, through one of his lawyers, Mike Ozekhome, filed an appeal against the stay of execution order at the Supreme Court.
But the court is yet to resume hearing on the appeal following repeated adjournments.
IPOB kicks
In the statement, Mr Powerful said the “continuous adjournments” by the court were stage-managed by the Nigerian government to keep Mr Kanu in the SSS custody and undermine justice.
The spokesperson said the group received another information from Mr Ozekhome, SAN, that the court has again cancelled the earlier scheduled hearing on 14 September due to the court’s annual holiday.
He argued that the recent adjournment was against the Supreme Court’s rules governing criminal trials.
“If the present intention of the apex court is not a rape of democracy and clear subversion of the course of justice, how could they have adjourned to 14 September 2023 without being guided by their diary, which contains the entire schedule of activities and holidays of the Supreme Court for the entire year?” Mr Powerful said.
Kogi AD
The spokesperson argued that the stay of execution order in a criminal trial “is both criminal and unconstitutional”. He alleged that the Nigerian government colluded with some judicial officers in the Court of Appeal to reverse the court order which earlier freed Mr Kanu.
The style of successive adjournment basically at the instance of the Federal Government of Nigeria is to justify the illegal detention of our leader, which is clearly an abuse of judicial process.
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“Our leader has been in detention for one year since he was discharged by the Court of Appeal. Yet, the government that appealed the decision discharging our leader is not interested in prosecuting the matter because they are aware that they will still lose at the Supreme Court,” he said.
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He stressed that the IPOB leader was still being detained without any pending charge, which he contended, was against the Nigerian Constitution.
Mr Powerful called on international governments and institutions to immediately prevail on the Nigerian government and the Supreme Court to hear and determine Mr Kanu’s appeal.
“If the Federal Government of Nigeria is no longer interested in prosecuting their appeal, our leader should be immediately released in line with the order of the penultimate court made on the 13 day of October 2022,” he stated.
IPOB is a group leading the agitation for an independent state of Biafra, which it wants to be carved out from the South-east and some parts of South-south Nigeria.
