By PAMELA EBOH, Awka

The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has expressed concern over what it described as political trial charade displayed at the Abuja High Court on Monday, February 26, 2024.

It made demand for the Nigerian government to discontinue the ‘politically motivated retrial’ of its leader, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, saying that IPOB is not interested in the political trial.

Stating this in a statement on Tuesday by the group’s Media and Publicity Secretary, Emma Powerful, said: “The whole political court trial charade has gone on for too long with no end in sight. It’s a good thing that IPOB distanced itself from further court trials.”

It wondered how Kanu, who has been discharged and acquitted by the Apex court, be compelled to seek a bail from a lower court.

It added, "Why did the federal government refuse to obey the 13^th October 2022 judgment of the Appeal Court of Nigeria? What are they planning to achieve with the new request for bail at the lower court?

“The IPOB leadership insists that IPOB is no longer interested in the political trial of our leader. The decision of the Supreme Court to return the case back to the High Court after confirming that the Federal Government invasion of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu’s home was an assassination attempt is simply, ridiculous.

“More so, the Supreme Court, on December 15, 2023, confirmed that the process of returning him back to Nigeria contravened local and international laws. Why then did the Supreme Court refuse to agree with the judgment of the Appeal Court but chose to return the case back to the High Court if not for political maneuvers? If their plans are to cage Mazi Nnamdi Kanu and IPOB with illegal and stringent bail conditions, they will fail.

“Nigerian judiciary cannot build on illegality by benefiting from their own crimes. We insist that the Nigerian government violated their own local laws and at the same time violated international laws by going to Kenya to kidnap Mazi Nnamdi Kanu and extraordinarily renditioned him to Nigeria.

The worldwide IPOB family stands by the judgment of the Appeal Court and will never accept or go by any bail conditions that the Federal Government of Nigeria plans to impose on our leader through Justice Binta Nyako. Their plans are dead on arrival. IPOB’s self-determination struggle is peaceful and lawful and can’t be stopped by any illegal court pronouncements in Nigeria.

“Since Nigeria Judiciary has decided to make mockery of the justice system in Nigeria, IPOB will help make their illegality and corruption go viral.

“IPOB will help to zero the Nigeria Government’s reputation for kidnapping and extraordinarily renditioning Mazi Nnamdi Kanu. Mazi Nnamdi Kanu has been discharged and acquitted from the second highest court in Nigeria. The Nigeria government’s refusal to obey the judgment of the Appeal court because it didn’t favour them will come with consequences.

“Mazi Nnamdi Kanu is the only political prisoner in Nigeria. All other political prisoners from other ethnic groups have either been discharged and acquitted or their cases dropped by the Nigerian government. They are all free men today except Mazi Nnamdi Kanu. The Federal Government of Nigeria is demonstrating an ethnic hatred against Ndigbo as displayed by the continuous illegal detention and trial and retrial of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu using the instrumentality of the corrupt legal system in Nigeria.

“President Bola Tinubu and his Attorney General should discontinue the charade of the High Court case against Mazi Nnamdi Kanu. They should forget about imposing any barbaric bail conditions on him after violating his fundamental human rights for almost three years.

“Every illegal and barbaric bail condition they plan to impose on our leader will be null and void.”

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