The Supreme Court has been told to set a date to hear the Federal Government’s appeal against the Court of Appeal’s judgment that discharged and acquitted the detained leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, or release him.
This was the position of the separatist group on Tuesday while alleging that the apex court was supporting Kanu’s continuous detention at the Department of State Services (DSS) custody in Abuja.
IPOB, as gathered by Naija News in a statement issued by its Media and Publicity Secretary, Emma Powerful, demanded that the apex court should either fix a date to hear the Nigerian government’s appeal against Kanu or release him.
The group said, “It is obvious that the Federal Government of Nigeria has literally abandoned their appeal against our leader, Kanu, at the Supreme Court of Nigeria because they have no case against an honest man devoted to the emancipation of the oppressed and downtrodden in our society.
“This being the biggest court case in the history of Nigeria, it is the duty of the government to insist on diligent prosecution of the case, rather than running away from their own Court. It is laughable that the person being prosecuted by the Federal Government is the person asking them to come to court.
“Is this not bizarre? What is it that the Federal Government is afraid of in pursuing a case they themselves brought at the Supreme Court against Nnamdi Kanu? We would like to know, since the Federal Government and the Judiciary are reluctant to hear this matter, is there any higher authority available to our leader to Appeal to since it is not likely that the Supreme Court of Nigeria will ever hear this matter?
“We make bold to say that the Supreme Court of Nigeria appears to be encouraging the illegal detention of our leader without any charge by failing to fix a date to hear a matter they had already sat twice over.
“This is unheard of. The Supreme Court’s own rules provide for accelerated hearing; why is this rule not been adhered to in a matter of this magnitude where Nnamdi Kanu has already been discharged by the Appeal Court of Nigeria?
“The Federal Government of Nigeria that approached her own Supreme Court to challenge the judgment of the Appeal Court that discharged our leader. So we are at a loss to understand what the delay at the Supreme Court is all about unless they are under strict instructions from the presidency not to hear the matter before them.
“If this is the case, the Federal Government of Nigeria should be magnanimous enough to accept defeat. We can assure the Federal Government of Nigeria that we shall accept with all humility this inescapable reality.
“Our leader, Nnamdi Kanu, is still being illegally held in a solitary confinement of the State Security Services (SSS) in their Abuja dungeon on the pleasure of the Federal Government, despite being discharged by a competent penultimate Court in Nigeria.
“This clearly constitutes the gravest infraction of the laws and constitution of Nigeria, on the face of specific and clear pronouncement by the Appellate Court that Onyendu Mazi Nnamdi Kanu should be released unconditionally and barred his further prosecution or trial before any Court in Nigeria.
“Implicit in the above, therefore, is the fact that Onyendu Mazi Nnamdi Kanu’s continued detention is arbitrary, unconstitutional and illegal since he is not currently undergoing any trial before any court on any indictment whatsoever.
“The unfolding event at the Supreme Court of Nigeria, with particular reference to the cancellation of the originally scheduled date for the Hearing of the Federal Government’s appeal before the Supreme Court, is an indication that the Federal Government of Nigeria is hiding under the guise that the detention of our leader is lawful by relying on the unprecedented and unconstitutional Order for Stay of Execution granted by the Malami constituted panel headed by Hon. Justice Tsanami but fails to understand that it is common knowledge and kindergarten law that no Court worth its salt can Stay a Declaratory Judgment of a self-same Court.
“In extant criminal jurisprudence as practiced in Nigeria, Stay of Execution is unknown to criminal law jurisprudence.
“The Justice Tsamani-led panel is the first panel of jurists since God created the world, to Stay the liberty of a defendant discharged by a competent Court of Law. This has never happened in the history of mankind.
“Furthermore, the abhorrence for our leader – Nnamdi Kanu – by the Federal Government of Nigeria is ceaselessly fuelling the blind and ill-informed destruction of the basic laws and safeguards contained in the Constitution of Nigeria.
“The basic safeguards enshrined in all ancient legal codes starting from Hammurabi, Mosaic law, Sharia law to Magna Carta, to English Common Law of King Edward the First in 1272; our leader remains the one and only person in the history of mankind to remain in detention after being discharged yet awaiting the validation of his release by a Superior Court.
“What Malami used Justice Tsamani to achieve is a reversal of the irreducible principle enshrined in the above ancient codes, which has now been destroyed by the Malami appointed panel of Justices.
“It is on record that it took Malami and his panel only eight days to obtain a Stay of Execution, detaining our leader – Nnamdi Kanu – without a charge, but sadly, it is now over one year, and the Appeal filed by the same Federal Government at the Supreme Court is yet to be heard if at all the case will ever be heard.”
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