Turning a deaf ear to the appeals made by a cross section of Nigerians to release the Leader of the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra, IPOB, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, the Federal Government has gone to the Supreme Court to appeal the recent judgement of the Court of Appeal which set Kanu free and gave him back his freedom.
True to his reaction to challenge the judgement, the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister for Justice, Abubakar Malami, SAN, on Wednesday, October 19, asked the Supreme Court to stay the execution of the judgement of the lower Court.
Malami filed a seven-ground notice of appeal at the Supreme Court against the judgement.
The Court of Appeal had, in a landmark unanimous judgement on October 13, 2022, lashed the FG over the manner Kanu was abducted from Nairobi, Kenya, and brought back to Nigeria.
The Court agreed with Kanu and his legal team, led by Mike Ozekhome, SAN, that the process through which Kanu was brought back to Nigeria was not only illegal, but broke all international laws. Kanu’s team called the process an extraordinary rendition
The Court of Appeal struck out the case, and stopped any other trial in Court, at the Federal High Court, Abuja, of Kanu, based on the faulty process through which he was brought back to NIgeria in June 2021.
But the Federal Government, in its appeal to the Supreme Court, said the lower Court erred in law when it faulted the process which brought Kanu back to Nigeria. The FG argues that Kanu jumped bail, a claim Kanu’s legal team has since dismissed, and argued that Kanu escaped to save his life after Federal Troops, inexplicably, invaded his country home, with an alleged intent to harm him.
The FG, also, faulted the Court of Appeal for striking out all other pending cases against Kanu before he “jumped bail”, on the ground that the Federal High Court no longer has the jurisdiction to continue with the case.
Many people had expected the release of Kanu after the judgement, thinking it has, finally, given the FG a window to resolve the Kanu issue. But there was doubt when Malami, in a statement, thereafter, insisted that Kanu was freed and not acquitted. He said that the Court of Appeal freed him of only one case – the abduction from Kenya- and not of the other cases against him before he was forced by the invasion of his home to jump bail.
On Tuesday, Kanu’s legal team served on Malami and the Department of State Services, DSS, where the Federal High Court, Abuja, ordered that Kanu be kept, copies of the judgement of the Court of Appeal which freed and acquitted the IPOB Leader.
A date at the Supreme Court for the argument of the Motion is awaited.
Discover more from The Source
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
