It is on
public domain that the federal government of Nigeria under the former dictator,
Muhamadu Buhari, has left no stone unturned in a bid to make certain that the
leader of Indigenous People of Biafra, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, who is fighting for
the freedom of his long-enslaved people, and was arrested en route to Biafran
land from his London base at Tullip Hotel in Lagos on the 14th of October,
2015, is convicted of a crime which everyone knows he did not commit.
In such a bid,
not just to nail Nnamdi Kanu but also to quench the revolution which will lead
to not only the freedom of Biafra but also Oduduwa and Arewa, the federal
government has gone as far as violating both the court and the constitution of
the country which Muhamadu Buhari on assumption of office on the 29th May, 2015
swore to uphold.
What has
caused these violations has not just been the dictatorial nature of the number
one citizen of Nigeria but his use of the dictatorial remains in his purported
democratic conversion to pursue the unity of a country badly divided. And the
more such line of action is towed the more badly becomes the resultant effect
on what he is pushing to patch, which signifies that he is using the wrong
methodology on a widely accepted ideology.
To show
that Nnamdi Kanu and co have not committed any crime, their detention has not
only attracted different personalities in the country but also international
bodies and human rights activists calling for their unconditional freedom. Such
people in the interests of holding fast their hard-earned integrity would not
because of Biafra demand for the release of people who they know committed the
crime accused them of ( that is if Nnamdi Kanu and co had committed the crimes
they were accused of).
Therefore, different people calling for the release of
Nnamdi Kanu and co accused can not be all wrong at the same time which shows
that Buhari-led government is the one violating not just the country's
constitution and court but truly breaching international law on the rights to
self-determination and freedom of speech.
In violating
his own country's constitution, he took longer time as against the stipulated
time allowed by the constitution to formally charge and arraign an arrested
citizen in court.
He refused
to obey the order of the Magistrate court to grant him conditional bail even
after the stringent conditions were perfected by Nnamdi Kanu.
In
countries like UK where Nnamdi Kanu is equally a citizen, charges are prepared
first and arrest warrants granted by courts before arrests are made and the
accused charged within the stipulated time allowed by the constitution. But in
the case of Nnamdi Kanu in Nigeria, the DSS first arrested him without arrest
warrant from any court, delayed his arraignment while searching for charges and
court and finally landed in MAGISTRATE COURT WUSE ZONE 2, NNAMDI AZIKIWE
EXPRESS WAY, BY OLUSEGUN OBASANJO WAY OFF MOBOLO STREET, MAGISTRATE COURT, WUSE
ZONE 2, presided by the chief magistrate, Shuaibu Usman with concocted charges
of Criminal Conspiracy, Intimidation and Belonging to Unlawful Society.
After
concocting more charges against him to include Terrorism, they (DSS -Buhari
boys) realised that the Magistrate court lacked jurisdictions to entertain the
amended charges hence they withdrew from it and ascended to Federal High Court
where they had obtained an order to detain him for more 90 days, which order
was set aside by same Justice Ademola Adeniyi.
In his ruling also Justice
Ademola ordered the immediate unconditional release of the Biafran leader,
Nnamdi Kanu, which order has not been effected up till now by the Buhari-led
federal government which some international bodies have waded in to no avail.
After
hunting new charges to include Treasonable Felony, they re-arraigned him before
Justice John Tsoho and now before Justice Binta Nyako who holding that the DSS
could not prove that Nnamdi Kanu committed Terrorism-related crimes, squashed
five out of the 11-count charges slammed against him.
By erasing
the Terrorism-related charges held against Nnamdi Kanu and co accused, which
were the basis on which secret trial would have been effected according to the
constitution, there's no other basis for arguments on whether the secret trial
should be erased since it is presumed that Justice Binta is indeed out for
Justice yet the federal government is insisting on secret trial but has put up
no reasonable argument backed by the constitution.
The federal
government has defied all orders by courts, appeals by individuals and calls
for his unconditional release by groups, insisting that there's enough evidence
available to convict Nnamdi Kanu and co accused, which evidence(s) is(are) only
testifiable by masked witnesses which is obviously contrary to the provisions
of the constitution.
In other
words, Buhari wants to convict Nnamdi Kanu of a crime he did not commit, which
he himself (Buhari) committed in 1983 but was never tried nor convicted.
He wants to
follow unconstitutional means to achieve his aim of nailing Nnamdi Kanu but I
doubt whether honourable people that still remain in the Nigerian state which I
want to believe Justice Binta is among will allow him have his way.
Since the
constitution only allows the protection of witnesses for Terrorism related
offences, and such charges have been squashed by the court, it, therefore,
means that Buhari should honourably withdraw the charges against Nnamdi Kanu
following the insistence of his(Buhari's) witnesses to only appear before the
court when their protection is guaranteed by the court which is not possible as
far as the current Nigerian constitution is concerned.
Therefore,
let the constitution be respected and followed for such is the only way to
avoid pandemonium in a badly divided establishment like Nigeria.
Let the
federal government under Buhari swallow his pride and withdraw the charges and
release Nnamdi Kanu and co-accused to avoid unimaginable consequences of
convicting an innocent man unconstitutionally in this democratic era.
Written by
Ogu Edozie Williams
For IPOB
writers
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