The detained leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, has declared that he would prefer to remain in detention for the rest of his life rather than be tried by a corrupt and biased court or judge.
Kanu made this statement in an open letter to the public, which he personally signed from his detention at the Department of State Services (DSS). The letter was made available through his Special Counsel, Barrister Aloy Ejimakor.
Kanu vowed that “if it will take the rest of my life in detention to produce me before a proper and impartial court, so be it”.
“But let me say this for the world to know: I will not succumb to any trial conducted by any judge or court whose jurisdiction does not pass constitutional muster. Not now, not ever,” he said in the letter.
“I have been compelled by the events of the past few days to take the unusual step of writing this Open Letter for the singular purpose of calling the attention of the general public to the serial executive and judicial fraud being perpetrated against me since my extraordinary rendition in 2021,” Kanu said.
He recalled that in a judgment entered on March 1, 2017, the Federal High Court in Abuja ruled that the “IPOB is not an unlawful group”.
“This landmark ruling made by the court before it turned unjust emanated in criminal proceedings that required “proof beyond reasonable doubt” and in which the federal government and my humble self presented our respective cases.
“Alas! Instead of the federal government to go on appeal as the law mandated (if they are dissatisfied with the judgment), the former Attorney-General, Abubakar Malami, went behind closed doors with a letter signed by late Abba Kyari and got IPOB proscribed/tagged a terrorist group in an ex parte proceeding conducted without notice to me or to the IPOB.
“This abominable incident was the earliest sign yet that the government and its judiciary have struck an unholy and fraudulent alliance to deny me my rights and thereby imperil the lives and liberty of millions who identify with IPOB.”
He further recalled that on October 26, 2022, a Federal High Court declared his extraordinary rendition and detention as unconstitutional.
According to the IPOB leader, the court stated that the “manner of arrest and detention of the Applicant (Mazi Nnamdi Kanu) in Kenya, his continued detention in Abuja, his subjection to physical and mental trauma by the Respondents”.
“The inhuman and degrading treatment meted out to the Applicant amounts to a brazen violation of the Applicant’s fundamental right to dignity of his person and threat to life under Section 34 (1)(a) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended),” he quoted the court as saying.
He noted that the court further ordered the Nigerian government to apologise to him and pay him compensation.
Kanu said, “In a responsible and well-ordered society, run by a responsible government, this judgment is sufficient to have ended my lengthy detention and encourage the federal government to constructively engage me on the issue of the self-determination agitation that triggered this whole saga.”
He also recalled that on October 13, 2022, the Court of Appeal held that “courts must never shy away from calling the executive to order when they resort to acts of ‘executive lawlessness’”.
Quoting the Court of Appeal, he said, “The duty of the Courts is to maintain a balance between ensuring that law and order is obeyed and the protection of the individual from oppressive actions by the executive.
“By the forcible abduction and extraordinary rendition of the Appellant (Mazi Nnamdi Kanu) from Kenya to this country on the day of June 27, 2021, in violation of international and state laws, the lower Court or indeed any Court in this country is divested of jurisdiction to entertain charges against the Appellant.”
Kanu noted that despite the clarity of the Appeal Court judgment and its comportment with reason, the Nigerian government refused to release him from detention.
“It went behind closed doors and connived with three other justices of the Court of Appeal who fraudulently and swiftly sat on appeal over the judgment and practically destroyed it by issuing what they termed ‘a stay of execution,’” he said.
“One may then ask: Is it not abominable for a court to stay a judgment the government already disobeyed?” he said.
He further stated that in multiple cases, the Supreme Court has held that anybody who disobeys a related court order cannot be given any judicial relief until such order is obeyed.
He said, “This is a sound reasoning that applies to everybody but is fraudulently overlooked when it comes to my case.
“Fast forward to December 15, 2023 when the Supreme Court sent back my case to the Federal High Court for trial.
“For the avoidance of doubt, that was not the only decision the Supreme Court made. It also decided that my bail should not have been revoked and it went on to state clearly that the judge exhibited significant and unacceptable bias by revoking my bail.
“In a sane society, one would expect that when the High court received my case from the Supreme Court and hunkered down for trial, it was also duty-bound to restore my bail in line with the pronouncement of the apex court.
“But that did not happen. Why?
“Well, your guess is as good as mine and that is, the Court connived with the federal government to continue my detention in violation of Section 287 of the Nigerian Constitution while they plotted to railroad me through an unfair trial that already has a predetermined verdict.”
He continued, “On September 24, 2024, I decided that I have had enough of taking my chances at getting justice from a judge that, in June 2021, sent me to secret police detention without fair hearing, later refused to transfer me to prison to better prepare for my trial and capped it all by refusing to restore my bail and instead ordered an accelerated trial in the face of the reality that I will never get a fair trial whilst detained at the DSS.
“These are the major reasons that compelled me to request recusal of the judge and having consented to it, she proceeded to make an order removing herself from my case. That order was never challenged on appeal, thus it remains extant to this day.
“But instead of the Chief judge of the Federal High Court to do the lawful thing by assigning my case to another judge, he connived with the federal government to eat crow and send my case to a judge that stands recused by a valid order.
“To conclude this Open Letter, let me make it clear that it should in no way be construed to mean that there are no decent judges in Nigeria that can be trusted to deliver even-handed justice in my case.
“That is not the issue. Instead, the issue is that my case is deliberately being shielded from judges and justices that are deemed to be committed to doing justice even when it means that the federal government must lose.”
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