Leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, has declared that he is willing to remain in detention for the rest of his life until his case is handled by a proper and impartial judge.
Kanu, who is currently facing trial before Justice Binta Nyako of the Abuja Federal High Court on terrorism-related charges, alleged that his case is being deliberately shielded from judges and justices who can deliver impartial judgments. He claimed that the Federal Government is behind this move, aiming to ensure that he is not given a fair trial.
The IPOB leader has been detained since 2021 when he was extraordinarily renditioned from Kenya to Nigeria. Despite the Appeal Court in Abuja discharging and acquitting him of all charges, the Nigerian government has refused to grant him freedom.
In an open letter, Kanu detailed the serial executive and judicial fraud he believes is being perpetrated against him. He cited several instances, including a 2017 judgment that declared IPOB a lawful group, and a 2022 ruling that declared his extraordinary rendition and detention unconstitutional.
Last week, he launched a verbal attack on Justice Nyako shortly after a hearing before the judge. Kanu alleged that she insisted on presiding over his trial because of ongoing corruption cases against her husband and son.
“Justice Binta Nyako is using her position for personal gain. Her son and her husband are facing corruption charges. And they (the Nigerian Government) told them (the judge and the court) that if they convict me (they will free the son and the husband).
“They (Nigerian Government) sent her to my case so they can release or smoothen the pathway for the husband and the son,” Mr Kanu said.
It can be recalled that the case has been adjourned indefinitely.
Meanwhile, the letter by Kanu reads:
“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. The details are as follows:
“In a judgment entered on 1st March 2017, the Federal High Court Abuja ruled that the ‘IPOB is not an unlawful group.’ At the time, it received widespread publicity which can be verified. This landmark ruling (made by the court before it turned unjust) emanated in a criminal proceeding 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.
“On 26th October 2022, a Federal High Court declared my extraordinary rendition and detention as unconstitutional, stating 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).’ The Court further ordered the Federal Government to apologize to me and pay me compensation. In a responsible and well-ordered society, run by a responsible government, this judgment is sufficient to have ended my lengthy detention and encouraged the Federal Government to constructively engage me on the issue of the self-determination agitation that triggered this whole saga.
“Pedal back to 13th October 2022 when the Court of Appeal held that: ‘The Courts must never shy away from calling the executive to order when they resort to acts of “executive lawlessness.” 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 27th day of June 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.’
“Despite the clarity of this judgment and its comportment with reason, the Federal Government refused to release me from detention while 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.’ One may then ask: Is it not abominable for a court to stay a judgment the government already disobeyed? In a plethora of 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. This is sound reasoning that applies to everybody but is fraudulently overlooked when it comes to my case.
“Fast forward to 15th December 2023 when the Supreme Court sent back my case to the Federal High Court for trial. For 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 hankered 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.
“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.
“Be that as it may, 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.”
