By CHARLES IWUOHA

A coalition of rights activists under the aegis of Rising Sun Survival Outreach, has declared that the Nigerian government has no valid charge against leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, Nnamdi Kanu.

Rising Sun made the declaration in a statement jointly signed by Rev. Fr. Augustine Odimmegwa and Mazi Maxwell Dede. The statement was made available to journalists in Umuahia on Sunday.

The group in the same vein declared that the Abuja Federal High Court lacked the jurisdiction to prosecute Kanu, adding that justice cannot be dispensed in the ongoing trial of the IPOB leader.

Stressing that Kanu should not continue to be in detention, the activists noted that the law under which the Biafra agitator was charged had been repealed. They also argued that Kanu was illegally abducted in Kenya to face trial in Nigeria, and had already been acquitted by the Court of Appeal.

The statement titled 'No valid charge. N No jurisdiction. No justice," read, "We, the people, are saying it loud and clear: Mazi Nnamdi Kanu should not be in detention for one more day. He was abducted, not extradited. The law is clear ? when a man is taken illegally from another country, no court in Nigeria has any right to try him. He was charged under a dead law ? the old Terrorism Prevention (Amendment) Act 2013 that no longer exists. You cannot revive a repealed law to persecute someone. The Court of Appeal discharged him, yet the DSS keeps him locked up in total disregard for that ruling. And now the Supreme Court has abandoned its own principle of finality ? when a higher court says ?discharged,? that?s the end of the matter.

"But they bent the rules just to keep him trapped. Let?s call it what it is ? a shameful abuse of justice.

"Why the law says he must be freed: 1. Unlawful rendition = No trial. 2. No valid charge exists. 3. Fair hearing denied. 4. Double jeopardy breached. 5. Supreme Court failed its own doctrine. 6. International law is on his side.

"Justice cannot survive where the law is ignored. Freedom cannot breathe when truth is buried. According to the Appeal Court, no court in Nigeria can put Mazi Nnamdi Kanu to trial because he was kidnapped from Kenya and brought forcefully to Nigeria. That amounts to gross violation of the International law. We are not asking for favours ? we are demanding justice under the law. If one man?s rights can be trampled, no one is safe. Justice for one = Justice for all. #FreeMNKNow."

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