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Tag: Nnamdi Kanu

  • CJN didn’t order Nnamdi Kanu’s release – NJC

    CJN didn’t order Nnamdi Kanu’s release – NJC

    ABUJA– The National Judicial Council, NJC, has debunked the report that the Chief Justice of Nigeria, CJN, Justice Kudirat Kekere-Ekun, ordered the immediate release and repatriation of the detained leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, Nnamdi Kanu, back to Kenya.

    The council, in a statement made available to newsmen on Thursday, described the report as the figment of imagination of the writer, stressing that the CJN has nothing to do with Kanu’s case.

    “The Council wishes to state that the media report is false and figment of imagination of the writer, as there are no Court proceedings, decision or judgment where such statements ascribed to His Lordship was made.

    “The Council categorically emphasizes that the Hon CJN neither preside over any Case of Kanu at the Apex Court, where jurisdiction issue was argued nor makes any such pronouncement.

    “His Lordship, the Hon CJN never wrote any formal letter to the Kenya Government or Kenya High Commission apologising on the issue of arrest of Nnamdi Kanu and trial.

    “The Council urges members of the public to disregard the fake story,” the statement, which was signed by the NJC’s Deputy Director of Information, Kemi Ogedengbe, read.

    Meanwhile, Kanu, who is answering to a seven-count treasonable felony charge the federal government initiated against him, is scheduled to appear before the Federal High Court in Abuja on Friday.

    He is billed to take a fresh plea before a new judge, Justice James Omotosho, who was handed the case file after the previous trial judge, Justice Binta Nyako, recused herself following Kanu’s allegation that she was biased.

    Counsel to the embattled IPOB leader, Alloy Ejimakor, earlier applauded the CJN for a swift intervention he said led to the reassignment of his client’s case to a new judge, despite initial refusal of the Chief Judge of the High Court, Justice John Tsoho, to do so.

    Kanu was first arrested in Lagos on October 14, 2015, upon his return to the country from the United Kingdom, UK.

    On April 25, 2017, Justice Nyako granted him bail on health grounds after he had spent about 18 months in detention.

    Upon the perfection of the bail conditions, he was on April 28, 2017, released from the Kuje prison.

    However, midway into the trial, the IPOB leader escaped from the country after soldiers invaded his country home at Afara Ukwu Ibeku in Umuahia, Abia State, an operation that led to the death of some of his followers.

    Kanu was later re-arrested in Kenya on June 19, 2021, and extraordinarily renditioned back to the country by security agents on June 27, 2021.

    Following the development, the trial court, on June 29, 2021, remanded him in custody of DSS, where he remained till date.

    The trial court had on April 8, 2022, struck out eight out of the initial 15-count charge that FG preferred against the defendant. It held that the discarded allegations lacked substance.

    Likewise, the Abuja Division of the Court of Appeal, on October 13, 2022, ordered Kanu’s immediate release from detention even as it quashed the charge against him.

    However, dissatisfied with the decision, the Federal Government took the matter before the Supreme Court, even as it persuaded the appellate court to suspend the execution of the judgement, pending the determination of its appeal.

    While deciding the appeal, the Supreme Court, on December 15, 2023, vacated the judgement of the appellate court and gave the Federal Government the nod to try the IPOB leader on the subsisting seven-count charge.

     

     

  • Ndigbo chose Monday sit-at-home to show solidarity with Nnamdi Kanu – IPOB

    Ndigbo chose Monday sit-at-home to show solidarity with Nnamdi Kanu – IPOB

    NNEWI——– THE Indigenous People of Biafra (IPoB) has told the Federal government and the Nigerian Army that it can no longer be blackmailed with Monday weekly sit-at-home because the whole Nigerians and the world knows that it has no hand in its continued observation by Ndigbo.

    IPoB urged the Federal government to release its leader Nnamdi Kanu if it wants the Monday weekly sit-at-home to stop, saying it is now a protest by Ndigbo against the continued illegal and malicious detention of Mazi Kanu, who is now being used as a pawn against Ndigbo.

    The pro-Biafra group in a statement by its Media and Publicity Secretary, Emma Powerful entitled “Do not blackmail IPoB with Monday weekly sit-at-home, instead free Nnamdi Kanu”, said that Monday weekly sit-home is no more IPoB issue but a protest by Ndigbo against the illegal and malicious detention of Mazi Kanu.

    IPoB statement read, “The noble family and movement of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPoB, worldwide wish to categorically notify the Nigerian military and the Nigerian government that they can not blackmail IPoB and Eastern Security Network, ESN with Monday sit-at-home because we are a disciplined self-determination movement and has for long disassociated itself from Monday weekly sit-at-home.

    “IPoB members and ESN operatives are disciplined freedom-fighting volunteers fighting for survival. IPoB and ESN are the reasons that the state-sponsored terrorists have not turned Biafra land into a mass grave. ESN operatives are the reason why Ndigbo still goes to their farm to date.

    “ESN operatives are paying a heavy price in curtailing the activities of terrorists masquerading as herdsmen. The reason that the Nigerian government and her military are targeting and blackmailing ESN daily is to destroy all the defence lines of Biafrans. ESN remains the last defence for Ndigbo.

    “Nigerian Army has not defended any indigenous tribe in Nigeria against the state-sponsored foreign Fulani terrorists let alone defending Ndigbo that they wish should be exterminated. Any Igbo person falling for the Nigerian government’s blackmail against IPoB and ESN is a fool who hasn’t understood the level of hatred that the Nigerian State has against Biafran people.

    “To the Nigerian government, IPoB and ESN are big obstacles to their extermination and displacement plan against Ndigbo from our ancestral lands. No matter the level of attack, blackmail and extrajudicial executions, and disappearances caused by the Nigerian government against Ndigbo, IPoB remains committed towards safeguarding our land and the self-determination and independence efforts.

    “The Nigerian military boasted of demarketing IPoB, and to make Ndigbo hate the movement using the infamous Monday sit-at-home, which the military and Police themselves helped to enforce. Before now, the Nigerian Army and Police patrol around some rural communities in the South East on Mondays, arresting youths seen on the road, thereby helping to enforce sit-at-home.

    “The Nigerian government recruited the soulless criminals called Autopiloters to impersonate IPoB and ESN to kill and destroy our people and our people’s properties on Mondays in the name of enforcing the sit-at-home IPoB, already suspended. It was a covert operation between the Nigerian government and the agent provocateurs.

    “Their agenda is to use the Monday sit-at-home to convince Ndigbo that IPoB is destroying their economy, but today Ndigbo have known the truth about their humiliation and maltreatment of their people and are now using Monday weekly sit-at-home to protest against injustices against them, particularly the continued malicious and illegal detention of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu.

    “IPoB initiated and suspended Monday sit-at-home after its first successful compliance. We have constantly condemned the violent enforcement of the sit-at-home, which the Nigerian Army and Police are part of. Since the buffoon in Finland was arrested by the Finnish authorities, the criminals enforcing sit-at-home have gone into hiding.

    “That is to tell you that the sit-at-home enforcers were recruited to commit crimes with the name of Biafra and Mazi Nnamdi Kanu. Nevertheless, IPoB commends Ndigbo, who voluntarily chose to sit at home on Mondays in solidarity with our illegally abducted and detained leader Mazi Nnamdi Kanu’s plight.

    “IPoB are the people, and people are IPoB. There is no strategy that the Nigerian government will adopt to make Ndigbo reject themselves. Telling Ndigbo to reject IPoB and embrace the Nigerian Army is like telling people to reject their saviour and to embarrass their killers.

    “The Nigerian Army should discard the idea of destroying, IPoB, using bullets and blackmail because that is mission impossible. IPoB is rooted in a strong ideology of survival. The more Nigeria rejects and oppresses Ndigbo, the more the IPoB ideology is fueled.

    Nigeria has rejected Ndigbo politically, socially, and economically, and Ndigbo has rejected Nigeria in our souls and spirits. To us, Nigeria has ceased to exist, but only for a time.

    “The Nigerian military has shown their incapability of protecting Nigerians from terrorists who have taken over some local governments in Northern Nigeria. They are in the Eastern region to create artificial insecurity and to extort Ndigbo.

    “How can a professional military occupy themselves with the obsession of ending a voluntary sit-at-home, which is a non-violent civil action instead of facing the rampaging terrorists ravaging the country? Only a weak military will preoccupy themselves with civil matters while leaving terrorism to thrive.

    “The Nigerian Army should leave IPoB, ESN and our territory alone. The insecurity in the South East is an artificial one sponsored by the Nigerian State, who recruited criminals to destabilise the region but have failed. IPoB and ESN stand for Biafrans and remain the last line of defence for Ndigbo against the rampaging radical Islamic extremists in their conquest mission in Nigeria.

    “The Nigerian Army is working with the radical extremists to destroy Biafra’s line of defence which is IPoB in order to pave the way for the terrorists to massacre Ndigbo and occupy our land like they have done in many parts of the Northern region.

    “After the genocidal war against Ndigbo by the British and Nigerian governments. Ndigbo never had any group that is determined and courageous like IPoB and ESN. Ndigbo can’t miss the golden opportunity to support IPoB to restore our dignity as children of light, children of Chukwu Okike Abiama. A strong movement like IPoB comes once in many generations.

    The Nigerian government, her military, and South East Governors and politicians should focus on addressing the issues that are responsible for the Monday sit-at-home, which is the unconditional release of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu and a call for Biafra Referendum.

    “The use of intimidation and bullying people to force them out on Mondays is a cruel tactic. Will the Nigerian Army go to the people’s houses to force them out on Mondays in order to end the sit-at-home?
    The answer is NO. Any responsible government would engage in dialogue and superior arguments to win the trust of citizens, but in Nigeria everything is by military intimidation and force.

    “Ndigbo love Mazi Nnamdi Kanu and have chosen to sit at home on Mondays in solidarity with him. Igbo Governors and the Nigerian government should toe the line of wisdom and release Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, and the Monday sit-at-home will immediately stop. Blackmailing IPoB and ESN with Monday sit-at-home is a strategy that is dead on arrival.”

  • Nnamdi Kanu is his own judge and lawyer(2), by Rotimi Fasan

    Nnamdi Kanu is his own judge and lawyer(2), by Rotimi Fasan

    Nnamdi Kanu, as I previously stated, is a self-proclaimed self-determination agitator but his ways and utterances are those of a separatist. Not only does he want a separate Biafra nation, his Biafrans are to have nothing to do with Nigerians of other ethnicities. While they could have relations with or even annex other smaller groups that Kanu likes to include in his extended map of Biafra that goes far beyond the geographic core of the South-East states to the South-South states and communities in Rivers, Cross River, Bayelsa, Akwa Ibom, Delta and even Benue and Kogi states, they, by his estimation, certainly cannot have anything to do with people from the core Yoruba or Hausa- or Fulani-speaking states.  

    While he identifies as a Judaist, he is on record for scolding Igbo people that are members of so-called Yoruba Church, that is churches led by Nigerians of Yoruba extraction. For him the argument is not just that the Igbo should be allowed to determine the direction they want to go politically, it is rather that they are better than all others and should have control and the right of first choice over everything. They just should not and cannot cohabit with others of supposedly inferior make-up. That seems to be his position. For this reason, he and the organisation he leads thrive on propaganda in which he demeans and twists up the national history of other Nigerian groups to fit his account of Igbo exceptionalism.

    He gets unnecessarily aggressive and voluble in his self-created intellectual bubble where everything Igbo or about the Igbo is right and proper while the opposite is the case for other Nigerians. Can anyone imagine what things would look like if everyone has to think and act with and from the same mindset? Raining insults and spewing curses on others and practically inciting ethnic strife, Kanu has but a one-track mind. What would it look like if any Yoruba or Hausa or Fulani agitator pompously tells their own story of ethnic superiority – story of how the Igbo are weak and subservient to others and on the basis of that demand that the agitator’s group be treated preferentially?

    I know the story has always been of how the Igbo are marginalised and victimised without equal attention paid to how those who speak in the name of the Igbo (which is not the same thing as the Igbo themselves) have played their politics or chosen to relate with others. Either way, is the dishing out of insults and excessive display of aggression the answer to the problem, real and perceived, of Igbo exclusion from national politics? What about reaching out to and winning the support of others? Where does fiction end and fact begin? It was Kanu’s propaganda machine that spawned the Jibril Al Sudan story about President Muhammadu Buhari being a clone of the person we all know bears that name.

    It was a totally fictitious story and when it was shown that such claims are scientifically implausible, Nnamdi Kanu and his supporters doubled down on it and insisted that Buhari was dead and had been replaced by a lookalike politician. I knew an elderly, non-Igbo woman who fell for that garbage of a tall story as were many others who could have gone to war to prove its veracity. Nnamdi Kanu’s word was either the law or the gospel. You either take it or have it rammed down your throat. A lot of what transpired in Justice Binta Nyako’s court was a disgraceful abuse of process, an insult to the judge in particular and the country’s judicial system at large.

    Nnamdi Kanu could and ought to have been held in contempt of the court. He was utterly disrespectful. Had another judge risen to the occasion and done what the law demanded in such circumstances, then would there have been the usual hue and cry about group or individual victimisation. But the politicisation of the entire trial basically tied the judge’s hands and it felt at once sorry and shameful that she was so shabbily treated in her own court. Kanu would have had a hard time had he been compelled to prove some of his claims about a huge sum of money exchanging hands to facilitate his conviction in exchange for the judge’s husband and son standing trial for corruption being provided a soft landing. Was it in his alleged solitary confinement at the DSS detention centre that Kanu learned of those wild claims he purveyed as facts?

    When you consider his wilful arrogance and disdain of other opinion, it is not difficult to see why he was easily picked up like a chicken and extraordinarily renditioned. He is too much in love with his own voice. Even before he escaped from the country while on bail in 2017, he had become a power house and something of a principality in the South-East. He was his own master and confidant. He operated from his Afaraukwu, Abia State residence, as if he was a sovereign, receiving obeisance from his supporters who bowed and fell at his feet while seizing every opportunity to challenge the authority of the state. Symbols of state power were anathema to many who acted in his name. This, in addition to his separatist agenda, is a major part of what differentiates his type of agitation from that of others he is often compared to.

    It was in this situation, while he was on bail, that his people again clashed with military personnel who took the battle into his home and took out several of his followers during the operation Python Dance exercise in the South-East. This was what forced him into exile where he could have remained for good had he not turned his energy into the active promotion of treasonable activities and ethnic disaffection through his broadcasts on his so-called Biafra radio. The circumstances of his arrest speak volumes about his person.

    The Igbo like any other Nigerian group are guaranteed their right of self-determination. Nnamdi Kanu need not monopolise the narrative around that. That right was long recognised before he was born and the idea that the peace of the South-East that has been mostly disrupted in the last five years by IPOB-related activities is dependent on his release is stretching the truth. Kanu’s IPOB may have unleashed a monster that has gone beyond its control in the form of the Eastern Security Network. If only to respect the wish of the South-East political establishment, a political solution should be found to his matter and he should be released. But it can’t all be on his own terms. Justice Binta Nyako is the third on Kanu’s recusal list. How many more are left to go?

    Terminated

  • Temper justice with mercy, release Nnamdi Kanu – Deputy Speaker urges Tinubu

    Temper justice with mercy, release Nnamdi Kanu – Deputy Speaker urges Tinubu

    The Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Benjamin Okezie Kalu, has appealed to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to temper justice with mercy and release the leader of the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, from detention.

    Kalu appealed while addressing the press after the inaugural meeting of the House of Representatives committee on South East Development Commission (SEDC) at the National Assembly complex in Abuja.

    The Deputy Speaker commended Mr President for his continuous and tremendous support and commitment towards peace, development, and stability in the South-East region.

    He noted that the president, since assuming office, has in various ways proven his love for the South-Easterners through his speedy assent to the South East Development Commission Bill, which failed in previous assemblies.

    He said, “We are begging; you can’t coerce the President; he’s the Commander in Chief. All we are saying is use a political approach, not the legal approach. We are appealing to him to temper justice with mercy and release Nnamdi Kanu to Southeast people. It will ensure more security for our people and spring up development that this SEDC is going to bring.”

    Suggesting the adoption of a political approach rather than a legal one for the release of Kanu, the Deputy Speaker said that the people of the region will be eternally grateful to the President if that becomes a reality.

    Expressing optimism that the president will heed their appeal, the deputy speaker noted that when Kanu is released, insecurity in the region will be reduced and as well spring up development that this SEDC is going to bring.

    He said, “Only President Bola Ahmed Tinubu was able to put his feet down to say that the South East remains parts and parcel of Nigeria. It failed in previous assemblies but when it got to him, he assented to it. We are very happy because we know that certain areas of our problems in the region will be prioritised such as agriculture, energy, power, infrastructure, technology we are very innovative people.

    “All we need is the support of government to project the innovative mindedness of the young folks in that region to benefit the entire federation. The next one is the creative industry, how do we look at that, sports, entertainment, to take it from where it is to where it ought to be. In agriculture the whole nine yards, in line with the Renewed Hope Agenda on Food Security, that’s what we are looking at. What’s happening with these talents, can’t we have something like silicon valley in the east? We can call it eastern valley, a hub where you creative minds will come together.

    “These are areas we are looking at, with a lot of technology in place, development will spring up. We are thankful to Mr President for doing this for the South-East; you know insecurity is a major concern in the area. You can’t have development in midst of insecurity. That’s why we started what we call peace in South-East project supported by the parliament. But in doing so we noticed that the insecurity there will be reduced if Nnamdi Kanu is released. We want Nnamdi Kanu to be released because we know it will give our people more security.

    “Those who are using him as an excuse to perpetrate all these criminal actions around our area will have no other reason to be on the street. Then the police and security agencies will catch anyone who claims Nnamdi Kanu is the reason for causing harm to the people of South-East.

  • My fears about court case in Abuja — Nnamdi Kanu

    My fears about court case in Abuja — Nnamdi Kanu

    Detained Leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, has said that he is not expecting favourable judgment from any court in Abuja.

    This was conveyed by his Lead Counsel, Chief Aloy Ejimakor, after visiting him at the Abuja headquarters of the Department of State Service, DSS, where he has been in confinement since June 2021 when he was abducted and extraordinary renditioned from Kenya.

    According to Ejimakor, the IPOB leader expressed frustration over fragrant disregard for due process and the rule of law in the handling of his matter.

    Ejimakor, in a post, said:”He asked us to inform the general public that he’s not expecting any favourable judgment from any courts in Abuja because his cases are not decided in accordance with the rules of law but the rules of politics – dirty and deadly politics.

    “The way and manner the laws are applied to him are not in conformity with the written laws of Nigeria or the pertinent international laws.

    “Those benefitting from insecurity are the ones deciding what negative decisions to deliver because if justice were to be done, the well-orchestrated and heavily funded attacks and demonisation of his person and his lofty mission would no longer resonate with the public.

    “Onyendu MNK urged the public to read all court decisions and judgements pertaining to him and IPOB to understand that what the law says is not what is being done. He insists that his trial is a sham designed to destroy truth and justice.”

    Recall that Justice Binta Nyako of the Abuja High Court had, mid last year, recused herself from the matter, but the matter, after sometime, was re-assigned to her amidst protests by Kanu and his legal team.

  • I’m not expecting favourable judgment from any Abuja court – Nnamdi Kanu

    I’m not expecting favourable judgment from any Abuja court – Nnamdi Kanu

    Detained leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, has said that he is not expecting favourable judgment from any court in Abuja.

    This was conveyed by his Lead Counsel, Aloy Ejimakor, after visiting him at the Abuja headquarters of the Department of State Services (DSS) where he has been in a solitary confinement since June 2021 when he was abducted and extraordinary renditioned from Kenya.

    According to Ejimakor, the IPOB leader expressed frustration over fragrant disregard for due process and the rule of law in the handling of his matter.

    Ejimakor, in a post, said: “He asked us to inform the general public that he’s not expecting any favourable judgment from any court in Abuja because his cases are not decided in accordance with the rules of law but the rules of politics – dirty and deadly politics.

    “The way and manner the laws are applied to him are not in conformity with the written laws of Nigeria or the pertinent international laws.

    “Those benefitting from insecurity are the ones deciding what negative decisions to deliver because if justice were to be done, the well-orchestrated and heavily funded attacks and demonisation of his person and his lofty mission would no longer resonate with the public.

    “Onyendu MNK urged the public to read all court decisions and judgements pertaining to him and IPOB to understand that what the law says is not what is being done. He insists that his trial is a sham designed to destroy truth and justice.”

    Last year, Justice Binta Nyako of the Federal High Court in Abuja recused herself from the matter but the case was re-assigned to her amidst protests by Kanu and his legal team.