•Alleges that Nigeria’s justice system has been hijacked

Dismissing the refusal of the bail application filed by the detained leader of the now proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, as a predictable outcome but nevertheless tragic in dimensions, a civil rights advocacy group, Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA), says that unless Nigeria brings in a European-born judge with special waiver to entertain the case instituted by the federal government against IPOB and Kanu, it was impracticable for any Nigerian-based judge to deliver justice and fairness to the Prisoner of Conscience.

HURIWA also accused the federal government of using divide-and-rule tactics to brainwash the hoi-polloi in the Moslem North to perceive IPOB or Ndigbo as enemies of the Fulani.

In view of this, the group said it would take either a European judge or an unusual judicial miracle for Kanu to obtain fair hearing.

It said for President Buhari and his allies, Kanu and IPOB were guilty until they prove themselves to the contrary.

According to HURIWA, the massive media propaganda by government against Kanu, including the deployment of Hausa services of international radio stations, to paint Kanu as a hater of Fulani would make it difficult for any judge wishing to be elevated to grant fairness to the defendants.

HURIWA said that it was preposterous for Justice Binta Murtallah-Nyako to demand explanation from Kanu on why he breached the previous bail granted him by the same court, when it was public knowledge that the military invaded Kanu’s country home in Umuahia while he was enjoying that bail, and may have killed him if he had nor escaped for his dear life.

The rights group recalled that Justice Binta Nyako, while rejecting Kanu’s baill application ruled that the IPOB leader would remain in custody, pending the determination of the treasonable felony charge preferred against him by the Federal Government.

The group added that Justice Nyako held that Kanu must explain the reason why he breached the previous bail that was given to him, before he could enjoy another favourable discretion from the court.

“Until the issue of absence of the defendant for his trial, with all the bail conditions breached, is determined, the instant application of the defendant for bail will, at best, be premature and it is refused, adding: “However, the defendant is at liberty to re-file the application,” HURIWA quoted Justice Nyako as ruling.

“Is it not the living that enjoys court’s bail and if Nnamdi Kanu did not find a way of escaping from the massive scale of military attacks and he died in the process of the unprovoked attacks, will Justice Nyako then go to Heaven to find out how the man is enjoying the ‘bail’?” the group queried.

HURIWA, therefore, lamented the rejection of Kanu’s bail application by the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja on Wednesday, May 18, 2022, describing it as “what can be termed groundless and grotesque basis.”

The rights group appealed to the Chief Justice of Nigeria to work out a modality to grant a waiver to a judge from the European Court of Human Rights to adjudicate inside of Nigeria on the matter between the federal government and IPOB and its leader, Kanu, for justice to be done.

HURIWA further alleged that “the Nation’s judicial system is hijacked by the Executive arm of government, beginning from even how the President masterminded the illegal removal of the then substantive Chief justice of Nigeria in favour of the current holder who is also a kinsman of President Muhammadu Buhari.”

The rights group said only a political solution by way of unconditionally release of Kanu by the President or the appointment and temporary licensing of a European judge to entertain the matter that most right thinking persons could say the judiciary would deliver justice without fear of molestation or threats of physical attacks by forces embedded in the All Progressives Congress-led federal government.

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