A governorship candidate in Abia State and standard flag bearer of the African Democratic Congress, ADC, Bishop Dr. Sunday Ndukwo Onuoha, says continuous detention of the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra IPOB, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, is a violation of the Appeal Court ruling which discharged and acquitted him.
Bishop Onuoha said since a Federal High Court in Abuja presided by a three-man panel led by Justice Jummai Hanatu, said it was satisfied that FG flagrantly violated the law, when it forcefully rendered Kanu from Kenya to the country for the continuation of his trial, it was wrong for the Federal Government to continue holding the IPOB leader in detention.
The Methodist Bishop who spoke on Thursday while speaking with newsbuka.com, correspondent in Umuahia, added that it has become worrisome that Nigeria is a place where court judgements and decisions are violated without recourse to where it places the country in the comity of nations.
He said it is not ideal for the Federal Government to continue detaining the IPOB leader since the Appellate Court on Thursday, October 13th, 2022, contended that Mr Kanu’s extradition from Kenya in June 2021 to Nigeria without following the extradition rules was an aberration and a violation of Nigeria’s extradition treaty and a breach of the IPOB leader’s fundamental human rights.
The ADC Governorship candidate in Abia, urged the Federal Government to do the needful and heed the judgement of the Appeal Court for the interest of Nigeria’s democracy and her institutions, stressing that the decision of the Federal Government on this issue will, to a large extent determine how the practice of democracy in the country has grown.
“Nigerian government can use the case of Nnamdi Kanu and the Appeal Court ruling of 13th October, 2022, to announce to the world the extent our democracy has grown. If I were the President, I will go ahead and free the IPOB leader and prove sceptics wrong that I adhere strictly to the principles and tenets of Rule of Law. His continuous detention to me, lowers the estimation of the country in the comity of nations.”
Recall that the The Court of Appeal in Abuja, on Thursday, October 13th, 2022, struck out the terrorism charges filed against Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) by the Nigerian government.
