By Akinwale Kasali
Contrary to press statements by the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, SAN, which stated that the Leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, Nnamdi Kanu still has pending charges to answer, both his lead Counsel, Mike Ozekhome, SAN, and Ifeanyi Ejiofor, insist Kanu was discharged and acquitted, and has no pending case against him.
The Court of Appeal had, on Thursday, 13th October slammed the Federal Government for the manner in which Kanu was extraordinarily renditioned from Kenya. In a judgment which was unanimously agreed to by the three-man Panel of Judges, the Court ordered all trials against Kanu be stopped because his abduction to NIgeria to face the charges were illegal.
But while Kanu’s Lawyers and followers were jubiliating, Malami poured ice water on it. He said the IPOB Leader still had some charges to answer to, and was discharged not acquitted. He said the Court of Appeal gave judgment only on one case – Kanu’s abduction from Kenya, a judgement he hinted would be challenged.
But Ozekhome, Kanu’s lead Counsel has asked Malami to forget it. He said Kanu was not only discharged of all charges but acquitted. Any more action against Kanu, Ozekhome noted, will be deemed as persecution not prosecution. He then enjoined Malami to release Kanu immediately.
Kanu’s other Counsel, Ifeanyi Ejiofor,told Malami and the President Muhammadu Buhari led Federal Government to comply with the order of the Abuja Division of the Court of Appeal. He also asked Malami to resign voluntarily for exposing the Federal Government to international embarrassment and ridicule.
Ejiofor said that the insistence by the AGF that there was a pending charge against Kanu before Kanu left Nigeria in 2017 and the indication that the Federal Government may continue with the charge, showed Malami’s total disconnect with the law.
He said: “The AGF should be appropriately guided in law.
“I implore him to meticulously read the full judgment of the Court of Appeal, immediately comply with orders made therein and possibly consider the most appropriate option of voluntarily resigning, for exposing the Federal Government to this international embarrassment and ridicule.
“Now, for the avoidance of doubt, the Federal Government has no options. It has only one option, namely, to appeal against the judgment of the Court of Appeal to the Supreme Court. And the exercise of this later option shall not constitute a bar to immediate compliance with the order of the Court of Appeal, which directed for the immediate and unconditional release of Onyendu Mazi Nnamdi Kanu.
“The order made by the Learned Justices of the Court of Appeal is sacrosanct and must be obeyed immediately without further ado.
“Further, the Attorney General of the Federation reference to the charge pending against Onyendu before he left Nigeria in 2017, and the indication that the Federal Government may continue with the charge really shows his total disconnect with the law, with greatest respect to his office
“It is to be noted that the remaining seven charges that was struck out by the Court of Appeal after it allowed the appeal on the ground that the Federal High Court has no jurisdiction to try onyendu Mazi Nnamdi Kanu is the same charge(with the same charge Number – to wit: FRN vs Nnamdi Kanu, Charge No: FHC/ABJ/CR/383/2015, that has been pending against Onyendu Mazi Nnamdi Kanu at the Federal High Court since 2015.
“The prosecution has amended this charge about 7 times. It is the same charge that was amended to include other counts that brought the counts to seven and then to 15. The Federal High Court struck out eight counts and retained seven.
“On appeal, the Court of Appeal struck out the whole charge and held that the lower court had no jurisdiction to try Onyendu Mazi Nnamdi Kanu. That being so, that charge that has been pending against MNK since 2015 and containing counts of alleged offences committed by him before he escaped from being killed in Nigeria in 2017 no longer exists. It has been struck out.
“There is therefore no existing charge on the basis of which the Federal High Court can proceed and try Onyendu. Accordingly, as it stands today, there is no criminal charge pending against Onyendu Mazi Nnamdi Kanu.
“The declaration by the Court of Appeal that the Federal High Court has no jurisdiction to try Onyendu Mazi Nnamdi Kanu because of the illegality of his abduction and extraordinary rendition to Nigeria is an all pervading instrumentality that effectively bars any indictment of Onyendu Mazi Nnamdi Kanu in any court in Nigeria.
“As his forceful abduction in Kenya and rendition to Nigeria violates all known international conventions and protocols to which Nigeria is a state party, no prosecution against him in Nigeria can ever be undertaken. This is because a cause of action cannot arise from a base ground- Ex turpi causa non oritur actio.”
