By Adadareporters
The continued detention of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, after his discharge and acquittal by the Appeal Court ‘casts Nigeria as a nation that ignores its own laws and revels in impunity’.
Barr Aloy Ejimakor, the special counsel for Kanu, stated this via his X handle. He said with the Court of Appeal’s judgement, “MAZI NNAMDI KANU is neither on ‘awaiting trial’, nor a ‘convict’. His continued detention casts Nigeria as a nation that ignores its own laws and revels in impunity. It’s abominable.”
Ejimakor therefore appealed to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to free Kanu and not to toe the line of ex-president Muhammadu Buhari ‘who took Kanu’s matter personal’.
Ex-president Muhammadu Buhari had refused to obey the Court of Appeal’s judgement, and instead sought a stay of execution at the Supreme Court. Kanu’s suit against his continued detention despite his acquittal is pending before the Supreme Court, which has adjourned the matter twice.
Ejimakor further advised Tinubu, as a democrat, to effect the release of Kanu, arguing that ‘self-determination struggle is a demand on the state, and has nothing to do with the president whatsoever’.
He tweeted that, “A demand for self-determination is a demand on the state, nothing against its president. It was Buhari who took it so personal that he killed many for it and renditioned #MNK to boot. A well-informed Tinubu is expected to turn a new leaf and end the injustice.”
Kanu has been in the custody of the Department of State Services in Abuja since 2021 following his arrest and subsequent rendition to Nigeria. He is charged with running a proscribed group, jumping bail and treason. Despite many court rulings that exonerated him, as well as fined the federal government for violating Kanu’s rights, the federal government has remained adamant.
