By PAMELA EBOH, Awka

The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has expressed dismay that the federal government of Nigeria has literally abandoned their appeal against its leader, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, at the Supreme Court because the appeal lacks merit.

IPOB insisted that Kanu was an honest man devoted to the emancipation of the oppressed and down-trodden in the society.

The group described its leader's case as the biggest court case in the history of Nigeria. "It is the duty of government to insist on diligent prosecution of the case, rather than running away from their own court. It is laughable that the person being prosecuted by the Federal Government is the person asking them to come to court.

“Is this not bizarre? What is it that Federal Government is afraid of in pursuing a case they themselves brought at the Supreme Court against Mazi Nnamdi Kanu? We would like to know, since the Federal Government and the Judiciary are reluctant to hear this matter, is there any higher authority available to our leader to Appeal to since it is not likely that the Supreme Court of Nigeria will ever hear this matter,” IPOB in a statement signed by its media and Publicity Secretary, Emma Powerful.

The statement further reads: “It has come to our knowledge that a lot of the public discourse surrounding the legal issues at the heart of this case is fueled by ignorance in some quarters and blatant mischief making in others.

“Therefore, it had become incumbent upon the noble family of IPOB to put the record straight. All the faceless groups formed and sponsored by DSS for purposes of misinformation should be guided appropriately to enable them appreciate the fact at play in this case before embarking on their usual frivolity and misinformation.

“We make bold to that say the Supreme Court of Nigeria appears to be encouraging the illegal detention of our leader without any charge by failing to fix a date to hear a matter they had already sat twice over. This is unheard of.

“Supreme Court’s own rule provides for accelerated hearing, why is this rule not being adhered to in a matter of this magnitude where Mazi Nnamdi Kanu has already been discharged by the Appeal Court of Nigeria.

“Not many people know that it was the Federal Government of Nigeria that approached her own Supreme Court to challenge the judgement of the Appeal Court that discharged our leader. So we are at a loss as to understand what the delay at the Supreme Court is all about, unless they are under strict instructions from the Presidency not to hear the matter before them.

“If this is the case, the Federal Government of Nigeria should be magnanimous enough to accept defeat. We can assure the Federal Government of Nigeria that we shall accept with all humility, this inescapable reality.”

IPOB group maintained that Kanu was still being illegally held in a solitary confinement of the Department of State Security (DSS) in their Abuja dungeon at the pleasure of the Federal Government, despite being discharged by a competent penultimate court in Nigeria.

IPOB said that the refusal to release its leader clearly constitutes the gravest infraction of the laws and constitution of Nigeria, with regard to specific and clear pronouncement by the Appellate Court that Kanu should be released unconditionally and barred from further prosecution or trial before any Court in Nigeria.

It adds: “Implicit in the above, therefore, is the fact that Onyendu Mazi Nnamdi Kanu’s continued detention is arbitrary, unconstitutional and illegal since he is not currently undergoing any trial before any court on any indictment whatsoever.

“The unfolding event at the Supreme Court of Nigeria with particular reference to the cancellation of the originally scheduled date for the hearing of the Federal Government’s appeal before the Supreme Court, is an indication that the Federal Government of Nigeria is hiding under the guise that the detention of our leader is lawful by relying on the unprecedented and unconstitutional Order for Stay of Execution granted by the Abubakar Malami-constituted panel headed by Hon. Justice Tsamani, but fails to understand that it is common knowledge and kindergarten law that no court worth its salt can Stay a Declaratory Judgment of self-same court.

“In extant criminal jurisprudence, as practiced in Nigeria, Stay of Execution is unknown to criminal law jurisprudence.

“It is to be clearly stated that our leader – Onyendu Mazi Nnamdi Kanu – is the first and only person in the history of the Sharia Legal Code, British Common Law (which Nigeria practices) or any other Legal Code, to remain in detention after being discharged by a competent Court of Law.

“The Justice Tsamani-led panel is the first panel of jurists since God created the world, to stay the liberty of a defendant discharged by a competent Court of Law. This has never happened in the history of mankind.

“Furthermore, the abhorrence for our leader, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, by the Federal Government of Nigeria is ceaselessly fuelling the blind and ill-informed destruction of the basic laws and safeguards contained in the Constitution of Nigeria.

“The basic safeguards enshrined in all ancient legal codes, starting from Hammurabi, Mosaic law, Sharia law to Magna Carta, to English Common Law of King Edward the First in 1272; our leader remains the one and only person in the history of mankind to remain in detention after being discharged and yet awaiting the validation of his release by a Superior Court.

“What Mallami used Justice Tsamani to achieve is a reversal of the irreducible principle enshrined in the above ancient codes, which has now been destroyed by the Mallami-appointed panel of Justices.

“It is on record that it took Mallami and his panel only eight (8) days to obtain a Stay of Execution, detaining our leader, Onyendu Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, without a charge, but sadly, it is now over one year, and the Appeal filed by the same Federal Government at the Supreme Court is yet to be heard, if at all the case will ever be heard.

“It is worthy to note, that the same unreasonable and wicked delay has led to the rolling adjournment of our Appeal against the IPOB proscription, which has been pending before the Abuja Division of the Court of Appeal since April 2018.

“The same Federal Government that illegally tagged the IPOB as a terrorist organization, has refused to come to Abuja to meet the IPOB in their own Court. This is because they have no case against the IPOB and cannot justify the legal basis for the politically-motivated proscription of the IPOB.

“It is perverse for a government to be running from their own Court after obtaining kangaroo judgment.”

IPOB further called on the powers that be to quit being afraid of Kanu and have some decency to either prosecute their appeal at the Supreme Court or set him free.

Update news