By Adadainfo
The Ohanaeze Youth Council, weekend, warned the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr Abubakar Malami, SAN, to thread with caution on the judgement of the Court of Appeal on Mazi Nnamdi Kanu.
The Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja, Thursday, October 13, 2022 upheld the appeal of the detained leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, and discharged him.
AGF Abubakar Malami, SAN, in a statement signed by his spokesperson, Dr Umar Jibril Gwandu, said the appeal court only discharged Kanu and did not acquit him.
“The Office of the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice has received the news of the decision of the Court of Appeal concerning the trial of Nnamdi Kanu,” the statement said.
“For the avoidance of doubt and by the verdict of the court, Kanu was only discharged and not acquitted. Consequently, the appropriate legal options before the authorities will be exploited and communicated accordingly to the public,” the AGF stated.
According to the national president of Ohanaeze youths, Igboayaka O. Igboayaka, “The Federal High Court lacks the jurisdiction to try Kanu in view of his abduction and extraordinary rendition to Nigeria in flagrant violation of the OAU Convention and protocol on extradition.
“Why would Malami insist that the Nigerian government will pursue and explore other options to pursue Nnamdi Kanu’s trial after Thursday 13th October 2022 when a three-man panel of the Court of Appeal discharged him.
“Why in the world should Dr Umar Jibrilu Gwandu note that Mazi Nnamdi Kanu was only discharged and not acquitted? Why would he say that the decision handed down by the court of appeal was on a single issue that borders on rendition?”
Igboayaka urged the FG to ‘stop hitting the legal battle between Nnamdi Kanu and federal government, but embrace the political solution initiated by Prof George Obiozor which President Mohammadu Buhari has considered and accepted as a means to reintegrate Old Eastern Region to heal the wounds inflicted on Biafrans that have lingered since 1966’.
Comrade Igboayaka noted that although the Nigerian nation could as a result of ‘haughtiness, sweep under the carpet the indispensable need to tender an apology to Nnamdi Kanu, but it’s on record that the Federal Government of Nigeria violated the extra-ordinary rendition process, and it is a democratic mockery to international best practices of the law.
“Nnamdi Kanu deserves an official public apology with monetary compensation. AGF Malami should bear in mind that if his personal idea is to pursue the case, he must make necessary arrangements to send Nnamdi Kanu back to Kenya or Britain and follow the best legal International process to bring Nnamdi Kanu back to continue his trial.
“AGF Malami’s utterance is evident that he doesn’t understand the time and season Nigeria is facing, with the fractured and disjointed Nigeria of multi-ethnicity crisis.
“A speedy release of Nnamdi Kanu will be a first step to start the healing process of the wounds in Nigeria.”
