Category: Biafra

The Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami has revealed why the Federal Government has failed to release the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu.

This is despite the Federal High Court sitting in Umuahia, the Abia State capital, directing the Federal Government to return Kanu to Kenya and pay him N500 million.

Malami on Thursday disclosed that Kanu is still been held in the facility of the Department of State Services (DSS) due to some factors.

The minister in an interview with Vanguard said the rendition of the IPOB leader could not be used as the only basis to release him.

He further stated that it can not be used to free Kanu of other offences levelled against him by the Federal Government.

Malami noted that the Federal Government is holding onto Kanu on account of four major issues, which were preceded by the rendition matter for which the court cleared him.

Malami said, “To release or not to release Nnamdi Kanu is a function of law and the rule of law for that matter. In arriving at a decision on whether to release or not release, is one; you look at the rule of law, two; you look at the public and the national interest, three; you look at the security situation, four; you look at international diplomacy.

“Let me talk first about the rule of law. This is someone that has been granted bail on account of charges that have been preferred against him at the court. Someone jumping bail to the international community, a case of a fugitive is established against the background of jumping the bail.

“Two, arising from the national security, this is someone that is charged with treason, incitement and destruction of civil authority, murder and assassination of others on account of his incitement, that boil down to issues of national security and criminality.

“Three, on account of international diplomacy, this is someone that has against his person, used the international community or a foreign country to launch an attack against a nation, against his nation for that matter.

“So all these naturally come into play to determine what to do. So if you have through judicial processes establish multiple cases of treason, homicide, and bail-jumping among others; the fact that you have indeed succeeded in one case as against multiple others that are pending goes to establish the fact that that case cannot be the only basis and criteria for determining whether you are entitled to be released or not.”

This article was originally published on Naija News

The leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, has hailed the ruling of the Federal High Court sitting in Umuahia which ordered the Federal Government to compensate him with N500m following his illegal abduction and human rights abuse from Kenya.

Naija News earlier reported that the court had ordered the Muhammadu Buhari government to pay the sum of N500 million as damages to the IPOB leader over the abuse of his human rights.

In a ruling on Wednesday, the presiding judge, Justice E . N Anyadike, ordered the Buhari government to return Kanu to Kenya from where he was extradited to Nigeria on June 19, 2021.

The judge also ruled that the extradition of Kanu from Kenya without recourse to the legal process was a flagrant abuse of his fundamental human rights, ordering the government to stop the prosecution of the IPOB leader.

Justice Anyadike ruled that the government could not disprove the claims of the applicant that he was arrested, blindfolded, tortured, and chained to the ground for eight days in Kenya before his extradition to Nigeria.

In a chat with reporters after the judgment, Kanu’s Special Counsel, Aloy Ejimakor said the judgment had shown that the court still remains the last hope for the common man.

Ejimakor, therefore, called on the federal government to obey the court order and return Kanu to Kenya.

This article was originally published on Naija News

A Federal High Court sitting in Umuahia, the Abia State capital, on Wednesday ordered the Muhammadu Buhari-led Federal Government to pay the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, the sum of N500 million as damages following his illegal abduction and human rights abuse from Kenya.

Naija News reports that the Court also ordered the Federal government to return him to Kenya from where he was extradited to Nigeria on June 19, 2021.

The Court presided by Justice E . N Anyadike, insisted that the extradition of Kanu from Kenya without recourse to the legal process was a flagrant abuse of his fundamental human rights, ordering the Federal Government to stop the prosecution of the IPOB leader.

Justice Anyadike ruled that the government could not disprove the claims of the applicant that he was arrested, blindfolded, tortured, and chained to the ground for eight days in Kenya before his extradition to Nigeria.

Nnamdi Kanu’s special Counsel, Aloy Ejimakor, had approached the court challenging his extradition from Kenya on June 19, 2022.

Ejimakor told the court that the suit is sui generis (of a special class) and was primarily aimed at redressing the infamous unlawful expulsion or extraordinary rendition of Kanu, which is a clear violation of his fundamental rights under Article 12(4) of the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights, as well as Chapter IV of the Nigerian Constitution.

He said, “In addition to the rendition, I am asking the Court to redress the myriad violations that came with the rendition, such as the torture, the unlawful detention and the denial of the right to fair hearing which is required by law before anybody can be expelled from one country to the other.

“I am also seeking to halt his prosecution and restore him to the status quo before his rendition on 19th June 2021.

“You will recall that on January 19, 2022, the High Court of Abia State decided that portion of violation of Kanu’s fundamental rights that occurred in 2017. Even as I had made claims that bordered on rendition, the Court declined jurisdiction on grounds that rendition, being related to extradition, lies within the exclusive jurisdiction of the Federal High Court. This is what informed my decision to initiate the suit before the Federal High Court.

“To be sure, the extraordinary rendition of Nnamdi Kanu, triggered myriad legal questions that cut across multiple jurisdictions in Nigeria and even triggered the international legal order, to boot. In other words, the rendition has expanded the matter of Kanu far beyond the realms of the Abuja trial and opened up new legal frontiers that must be ventilated to the hilt before other courts and tribunals within and without Nigeria.

“Thus, this very case before the Federal High Court in Umuahia is one of such that is aimed at seeking a definitive judicial pronouncement on the constitutionality of the extraordinary rendition. The ones in the United Kingdom, Kenya, African Union, and the United Nations are in addition.

“I would like to seize this opportunity to express my profound appreciation to the highly competent and hardworking team of lawyers that I am leading in the prosecution of this complex suit. Special mention must be made of Barristers Patrick Agazie, Ifeyinwa Nworgu, Tochukwu Arugbuonye, Franklin Amandi, Ohaeto Uwazie and Mandela Umegborogu”.

“For ease of reference and avoidance of any doubt, the following are the specific reliefs that I requested in the Suit”.

This article was originally published on Naija News

The President Muhammadu Buhari-led government on Monday revealed the reason why it refused to obey the ruling of the Court of Appeal ordering it to release the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, from detention.

Recall that the Appeal Court had discharged Kanu of the charges filed against him by the Federal Government.

The Federal Government, in a fresh affidavit filed before the Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja, maintained that Kanu posed a flight risk.

According to the Federal Government, the IPOB leader would escape from the country as soon as he is released from detention.

The affidavit was attached in support of an application seeking to stay the execution of the appellate court verdict that quashed the entire 15-count terrorism charge the federal government leveled against Nnamdi Kanu.

An Assistant State Counsel in the office of the Attorney-General of the Federation, David Kaswe on Monday told the court that the case against Kanu bordered on national security.

Kaswe stated that the fundamental rights of Kanu should not supersede the interest of the nation.

The federal government argued that once a case touched on national security, the right of the individual affected took a secondary place.

Kaswe said, “It is important to appreciate the gamut of depositions in our application. The Respondent is a flight risk person and one of the grounds of our application is that this matter touches on the national security of the state.

“We further rely on the case of FRN Vs Dokubo, where the Supreme Court held that where national security is threatened or when there is the likelihood of it being threatened, human rights take a secondary place.

“Once there is a threat to national security, the human rights of any individual can be suspended until the such threat is taken care of.

“Once the security of the nation is in jeopardy, the individual right may not even exist.”

He added that the intelligence report revealed that the security situation in the South East would get worse if Kanu is released from detention.

Kaswe noted, “The defendant has shown that he has the capacity to jump bail or to escape from lawful custody. There is reasonable intelligence that the enforcement of the judgement of this court, pending the determination of our appeal at the Supreme Court, may impact negatively on the declining security in the South East.

“No court can close its eyes on activities happening around it. As we speak, the entire social media is awash with threats to security in the country.

“We believe that there is an exceptional circumstance to warrant this court to grant our application.

“We urge this court to resolve the sole issue we raised and find our application meritorious, in the interest of justice and unity of the country.”

This article was originally published on Naija News

Ohanaeze Ndigbo and Igbo leaders have concluded plans to meet with President Muhammadu Buhari over the continued detention of the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu.

Naija News reports that a Court of Appeal had on October 13 discharged the IPOB leader, faulting Buhari’s government’s decision to extraordinarily extradite the pro-Biafra activist from Kenya.

Not satisfied with the Appeal Court’s ruling, the Federal Government has approached the Supreme Court to set aside the discharge and acquittal of Kanu.

However, it was gathered that the President General of the apex Igbo body, Prof. George Obiozor, has reached out to the Presidency for a possible meeting.

Recall that Buhari had, in previous meetings with delegations of Igbo elders, told them that he would not interfere with the judicial process, urging them to allow the court to decide Kanu’s fate.

Two Igbo elders, Chief Chukwuemeka Ezeife and first republic minister of aviation, Chief Mbazulike Amechi, in separate interviews with Daily Sun, hinted of behind the scene moves to secure Kanu’s release.

Amechi refused to comment on the appeal at the apex court by the Federal Government because there are arrangements for a political solution ongoing.

“That is why I have not talked about it; we are pursuing a political solution with the presidency. I would not like to pre-empt what would be the outcome of the discussion,” he said.

New Nigeria

On his part, Ezeife also expressed optimism that Kanu would soon be a free man, stressing that the Court of Appeal judgment in favour of the self-determination activist was in line with the current spirit of a new Nigeria sweeping across the country.

“Igbo elders are planning to go to the President. If it means for me to kneel down in front of everybody, I will kneel for him. If he wants me to prostrate, I will prostrate but let him release Nnamdi Kanu, and let’s silence some of the people who are fighting against the resurgence of Nigeria and the blacks.

“I must tell you that our leader, Professor George Obiozor; the president general of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, called me the same day when the issue came up and said he is preparing for us to go to the president and persuade him to do the right thing and I told him that I am ready. Very soon, we will organize that appointment, and we will go to the president,” the elder statesman stated.

This article was originally published on Naija News