…I’m victim of persecution, Kanu cries out

DETAINED leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Mr. Nnamdi Kanu has described himself as a victim of travesty of justice and gross human rights violation following his continued detention by the Federal Government.  Kanu, who assured of his readiness to stand trial, said he craved a fair trial and not persecution.  

In a statement by one of his counsel, Mr. Ifeanyi Ejiofor, the Biafra agitator, who has filed a suit before the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Court, said he was wrongly arrested and detained.  Kanu sought the intervention of the ECOWAS court to protect his fundamental rights as guaranteed under the African Charter on Human and Peoples’s Rights and other international conventions to which Nigeria is a signatory.  His lawyer said the detention of his client from October 14, 2015 till January 20, this year without any lawful court order and disobedience of court orders directing his release amounted to a gross violation of his fundamental human rights.  Ejiofor said a Chief Magistrates’ Court in Abuja discharged his client but “the Department of State Security Services that dragged him to court refused to obey the orders of the same court.”  The statement said: “On December 29, 2015, during the Presidential Media Chat, the president told the whole world that Nnamdi Kanu cannot be granted bail, alleging that he came into the country without a valid travelling passport. 

This pronouncement was roundly condemned by both local and international commentators. His pronouncement was viewed as a clear usurpation of the functions and powers of the judiciary.  “Though very regrettable and extremely unfortunate, Nnamdi Kanu was refused bail on 29 January, 2016. In refusing him and other defendants bail, the court also cited the facts of his possession of dual passports as a flight risk, and as such held that he cannot be granted bail.”  The development, Ejiofor insisted, “was in keeping with the pronouncement of the president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria in his media chat telecast live on December 29, 2015.

Courtesy: Sun Newspaper Nigeria