Nnamdi Kanu, the detained leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), has expressed his dismay over the Nigerian government’s utilization of civil proceedings to overturn a court order that acquitted and discharged him from criminal charges. Kanu’s dissatisfaction was conveyed by his special counsel, Barrister Aloy Ejimakor, after his associate, referred to as Barrister Mandela, visited Kanu in the custody of the Department of State Services (DSS) on Thursday.
Ejimakor clarified Kanu’s stance, stating that the discharge order, absolving Kanu of all criminal charges and declaring that he should never be tried in any Nigerian court due to extraordinary rendition, arose from criminal proceedings, not civil proceedings. However, the Attorney-General resorted to a civil process, specifically an application for a stay, to obtain an order from the Court of Appeal that temporarily stayed the execution of the discharge order originating from the criminal process.
“In other words, criminal and civil processes are not supposed to mix, especially in a case such as this. It is more egregious where a civil process was used to overthrow or overturn a criminal process,” SaharaReporters quoted him saying.
According to Ejimakor, Kanu believes, and I concur completely, that this represents a procedural and fundamental anomaly that should never occur when the liberty of a criminal defendant, as guaranteed by Chapter IV of the Nigerian Constitution, is at stake. It is a flagrant assault on his fundamental rights.
“Additionally, Kanu is dismayed that it took mere few days to obtain this infamous Order of stay (which temporarily destroyed the Order of discharge), whereas it has taken him nearly eight years from when he was initially arrested and charged in 2015 to get justice, including particularly that it will now take almost one year for the Supreme Court to hear his appeal from when it was filed in October last year to September this year when the appeal is set to be heard.
“All these things have now resulted in a manifestly unjust situation where Kanu’s detention has turned extrajudicial and extra-constitutional, because he is neither currently facing any trial, nor does he have any charges pending against him.
“Therefore, his detention is now tantamount to serving a sentence of imprisonment without a conviction or even a trial. That’s what makes it a travesty of justice (and even a trial by ordeal), and it should not be allowed to stand.” He added.
It is worth noting that Kanu was arrested in Kenya and returned to Nigeria in June 2021 by the Nigerian government to continue facing charges of treasonable felony and terrorism. Since his arrest, Kanu has been held in DSS custody in Abuja. However, in October 2022, the Court of Appeal discharged and acquitted the IPOB leader of all criminal charges, ordering his immediate and unconditional release from detention.
Nevertheless, the Nigerian government, through the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, rejected the appellate court’s ruling, obtained a stay of execution of the court order from the same court, and appealed the judgment at the Supreme Court while keeping Kanu in custody.
