By Adadainfo
Barr Ifeanyi Ejiofor, the lead counsel to Nnamdi Kanu, Wednesday, urged all lovers of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu to pray for him as the Court of Appeal decides his case against the federal government tomorrow, 13th October 2022.
Kanu is the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, and standing trial before Justice Binta Nyako over alleged running a proscribed group, jumping bail and treason.
Ejiofor stated this on his Facebook page. According to him, “We wish to inform Umuchineke and all followers of Onyendu Mazi Nnamdi Kanu that we just received NOTIFICATION from the Court of Appeal, Abuja Judicial Division, that the long awaited judgment in Onyendu Mazi Nnamdi Kanu’s Appeal No: CA/ABJ/CR/625/2022 BETWEEN: MAZI NNAMDI KANU VS. FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA will be delivered tomorrow, the 13th Day of October, 2022, at 2:00PM.
“We are very excited with this news as we look forward to a victorious outing tomorrow. ChukwuOkike Abiama is on the throne and shall forever be on the throne. The hour has come!
“Please do not relent in your prayers as they are positively impacting. We will surely have every cause to rejoice for victory is ours and it shall surely end in praises.
“Thank you all, UMUCHINEKE and remain blessed and law abiding as you have always been.”
Recall that Kanu was re-arraigned on an amended 15-count charge partaining to treason preferred against him by the federal government. The judge, on August 8, 2022 struck out eight of the 15-count charge.
But Kanu filed an appeal marked CA/ABJ/CR/625/2022, through his team of lawyers, led by Mike Ozekhome, praying the court to quash the remaining seven counts against him. The appeal also sought the court to order his release on bail, pending the determination of his appeal. The appeal was initially fixed for October 11.
Ozekhome had claimed that Kanu was forcefully abducted from Kenya and illegally renditioned back to the country. According to him, Kanu was first arraigned on December 23, 2015, and was later granted bail on April 25, 2017.
Quoting him, “My Lords, he was enjoying this bail without breaching the terms. However, he was in his ancestral home when agents of the respondent invaded his home in September 2017.
“He barely escaped alive by sheer providence and found himself first in Israel and later in London.
“When the appellant travelled from London to Kenya, agents of the respondents, on June 27, 2021, forcefully abducted the appellant, tortured and renditioned him back to the country without following any extradition process.
“This allegation of his forceful abduction and rendition was never denied by the respondent. More so, My Lords, the charge appears to give the lower court a global jurisdiction over offences that were allegedly committed by the appellant, without specifying the location or date the said offences were committed.
“There was no need for the lower court to have retained the remaining seven-count charge. The seven counts cannot stand being filed without following due process.
“We are therefore urging My Lords to strike out the remaining counts and hold that the respondent has not established any prima-facie case against the appellant for which he could be tried.”
David Kaswe, counsel to the federal government, had prayed the court to quash the appeal.
He had argued that, “My Lords, it took four years and huge resources to get the respondent arrested and brought back to face the charges against him. The prosecution is ever willing and eager to proceed with trial of the appellant.
“We are saying that the trial court was even wrong to have struck out the eight counts as it did. It is only after FG has produced all its witnesses and tendered its evidence that the appellant could claim that no prima-facie case was established.
“Finally, we urge this court to dismiss the appeal for lacking in merit.”
The three-member panel of justices led by Jummai Hanatu took the submission and said it would communicate a date for the judgement.
Adadainfo
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