IPOB: Subjecting Nnamdi Kanu To Trial Unlawful – Ejimakor

Subjecting the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, to any trial in Nigerian courts will be an aberration to earlier court verdicts in his favour.

This is the view of Kanu’s Special Counsel, Barr Aloy Ejimakor, on Saturday.

According to him, “There’s no basis for subjecting Mazi Nnamdi Kanu to any trial, given the string of legal victories in his favour within and outside Nigeria.

“As I have always said, any trial will be an #UnfairTrial and a #TrialByOrdeal, not by law. And persisting with his detention is unlawful.”

Kanu had during his trial on September 24, at the Federal High Court, Abuja, asked the trial judge, Justice Binta Nyako, to recuse herself from his case, claiming that some of the charges brought against him had been decided in his favour in courts, while Nigerian courts lacked jurisdiction to entertain others, having been allegedly committed outside the country.

Ejimakor premised his assertions on the Supreme Court verdict on Kanu vs the federal government, which was delivered in December 2023.

Ejimakor, quoting from the certified true copy of the judgement, told THE WHISTLER, “As of counsel, I had joined in this debate and always made it clear that Nnamdi Kanu, in the unique circumstances of the military invasion, did not jump bail.

“I had also written well-publicised legal treaties maintaining that this self-evident truth will be proved and confirmed in court in due course of time.”

One of the charges preferred against Kanu is jumping bail in 2017. He was on bail before his alleged jumping bail in the aftermath of an alleged invasion of his Afaraukwu country home by operatives of the Nigerian military.

Against this background, Ejimakor contended that “The first judicial confirmation came in January 2022 when, in a landmark judgement, the High Court of Abia State declared that the said military invasion was a flagrant violation of Kanu’s constitutional rights, consequent upon the court awarded him N1bn in damages and public apology. The judgement affirmed that Kanu never jumped bail.”

He further quoted the Supreme Court ruling that the Federal High Court should never have revoked Kanu’s bail; “that the prosecution wrought grand deception on the court on the bail-jumping issue and that the bench warrant that triggered Nnamdi Kanu’s infamous extraordinary rendition was obtained by deception and should never have been issued.”

Recall also that the United Nations Working Group had in its Opinion requested Nigeria to ensure Kanu’s “immediate and unconditional release.”

The working group had indicted both Nigeria and Kenya for Kanu’s arrest and continued detention.

The group also recommended payment of adequate compensation to him.

Kanu was arrested in Kenya in 2021 and renditioned to Nigeria. He has been kept in the custody of the Department of State Services in Abuja since then.