Nnamdi Kanu: Too Early To Talk Of Pardon – Malami

By Gideon Njoku

As the Leader of the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra, IPOB, appears in Court today, Thursday, December 2, the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister for Justice, Abubakar Malami, SAN. has, literally, poured cold water on any expectation of a  pardon for him.

Expectation of a release for him from detention, through a political situation had been high since a group of South-east elders, led by the very elderly 94 year old Mbazulike Amaechi, a first Republic Minister for Aviation, went to see President Buhari and appealed to him for Kanu’s release. The President told them their request was heavy and difficult. But he promised to look into it.

Then, when the story broke Wednesday afternoon, December 1, that Kanu would appear in Court on Thursday, December 2, instead of January 19, when his case had been adjourned to on November 10, the ecpectation was upped.

Perhaps, the President was finally fulfilling his promise to the Elders that he would consider a political solution to Kanu’s case, many people thought. The fact that the Court granted his Counsels’ request that the period of adjournment be abridged, they thought, was a pointer to the fact that the ground was softening, they thought.

Then, IPOB announced that there would be no shutdown of the South-east on Thursday as had been the case each time Kanu appeared in Court. The conclusion was that the FG and Igbo leaders must have reached an agreement which has been passed on to the leadership of IPOB,  which then necessitated IPOB’s instruction of “no sit-at-home order.”

A reliable source had told this magazine that Kanu’s Counsels would move a bail application on his behalf. The thinking then was that either the application would be granted, perhaps at a later date, or that Malami could withdraw the case against Kanu.

But Wednesday evening, all the permutations came crashing.

Appearing on a Channels TV interview programme, Malami said a political solution to Kanu’s case was not on the table, at all. There are no talks of pardon for him, Malami said. You pardon somebody found guilty already. In Kanu’s case, he said that bridge has not been arrived at yet. When the bridge is arrived at, he told his interviewer, he would see how deep the water is before crossing it.

Malami: “I can tell you clearly that the issue of pardon, out of Court settlement or associated settlement is not on the table now. It is a bridge I enjoy crossing when I get there. I have, unfortunately, not got there yet.”

Malami had, weeks before now, hinted on a political solution to both the cases of Kanu and Sunday Igboho of the Yoruba Nation who is currently in the Republic of Benin, undergoing prosecution.