Posted by Leading counsel to IPOB leader Nnamdi Kanu, Aloy Ejimakor, claimed on Friday that the Biafra agitator’s trial is shifting from prosecution to persecution.
While recounting Kanu’s struggles after his initial detention in 2015, Ejimakor made the assertion.
Ejimakor, speaking at a news conference in Abuja, emphasized that the arrest and detention of Kanu were for naught.
The IPOB leader, he claimed, never deserved all the trouble he’s gone through and that his arrest and detention were unwarranted.
This case is going from prosecution to persecution, and the public should know about it, Ejimakor stated.
“The federal government chose to focus on a different charge—the fraudulent declaration of imported radio equipment—after Kanu was carried into the country from Kenya, rather than the accusations that led to his unauthorized and forcible entry. That is an extremely grave accusation.
The more serious ones that were close to being treasonous were dropped in favor of fifteen new ones that were closer to being terrorism-related.
The seven years between 2015 and 2022, when the charges were finally increased to fifteen, were characterized by the entire abandonment of what I refer to as prerendition charges.
Nnamdi Kanu endured seven years of injustice at the hands of Nigeria’s criminal justice system due to dropped accusations. So, there was no justification for his detention for the 18 months that followed his 2015 arrest.
He wasn’t deserving of his incarceration or any of the hardships he endured, such as the Python dance, which nearly killed him, his parents, and countless innocent bystanders; his exile overseas; and his rendition.
“Then why was he extradited in connection with dropped charges?” Someday, someone will have the answer to that question.
“Kanu through myself, brought an application before the African Commission on Human and People’s right complaining about the Python dance proscription of IPOB and we won,” Ejimakor said, adding that the issue started in 2015 and increased with Python Dance till September 2017.
“In a letter addressed to the then-President, the African Commission demanded that he carry out specific requests made to him.”
In a swift decision regarding the extraordinary rendition, the United Nations (through its Special Rapporteurs) communicated to the Nigerian government on August 26, 2021, that the transfer of Nnamdi Kanu from Kenya to Nigeria was unlawful and a serious breach of human rights laws, as he explained. Here are additional statements made by the UN:
Here, we would like to inform your Excellency’s government of information we have gathered regarding allegations of Mr. Nnamdi Kanu’s enforced disappearance, arbitrary detention, torture, and ill-treatment at the hands of Kenyan security officials. We also have information regarding his illegal rendition to Nigeria, where he will be tried for terrorism-related charges allegedly associated with his leadership of the “Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB)” group.
The Department of State Services (DSS) purportedly imprisoned Mr. Kanu after his rendition to Nigeria and has since barred him from seeing his family, providing him with confidential access to legal counsel, and treating his underlying medical condition.
We would like to voice our concern regarding Mr. Kanu’s enforced disappearance from 19 June 2021 until his reappearance at the Nigerian Federal High Court in Abuja on 29 June 2021, as well as his alleged illegal rendition from Nairobi to Abuja without judicial process. We do not want to pass judgment on the veracity of these allegations. It is deeply concerning that Mr. Kanu has allegedly been subjected to torture and other forms of mistreatment while detained by the DSS in Nigeria. Upon confirmation.
“The claims made against Mr. Kanu demand immediate action because they include grave breaches of human rights laws on a global scale and have the potential to harm his life or personal dignity in an irreversible way.
That being said, we are thinking about making our feelings known about this issue soon. We think the general public needs to know what these claims mean for people’s ability to live freely in Kenya and Nigeria.
We have been in touch with your Excellency’s government to clarify the issue(s) in question, and any public expression of concern in this regard will convey such.