Barrister Aloy Ejimakor, Special counsel for the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, has questioned why the IPOB leader has not been found guilty despite the Nigerian government’s claims that he is guilty of terrorism-related charges.
Kanu has been on trial since 2015. Ejimakor explained that the trial is not a persecution but rather a prosecution.
Ejimakor made this known in an 18-minute and 9-second video obtained by our correspondent on Sunday, stressing that the government knows that with the evidence available to it, Kanu’s conviction will be impossible.
He said, “His trial was making its way slowly at Abuja with all the several amendments the government was bringing, they walked away from treasonable felony, insulting the president, importation of equipment and terrorism, and that’s how it happened seven times, seven amendments.
“If Kanu was guilty, why is it taking so long to bring him to trial between 2015 and today, which is eight years?
“So what is undergoing? He’s not really a judicial trial, it’s trial by ordeal, trial by fire, imprisonment before conviction. They just want to get out many years of jail time out of him as possible, because they know that with the evidence available, conviction will be impossible.
“And that was made worse by the extraordinary rendition which I took also as a civil violation to a Federal High Court in Nigeria. And in October 2020, the court came down with a judgment, that the extraordinary rendition was a violation of his constitutional rights, his fundamental rights and they awarded him N500 million, Nigerian Naira, that is about $800,000.
“So all round, everywhere that this matter has gone to including in July 2022 before the Human Rights Council at the United Nations, the Council came down with an opinion that what happened to Kanu in Kenya that brought him to Nigeria is a very grave violation of international law and directed that he should be released unconditionally.
“And of course the Court of Appeal in Nigeria did come down with a similar judgment in the same October 2022, discharging Kanu of all charges, and banning any further trial in any court in Nigeria, as a direct consequence of the extraordinary rendition.”
“So what more can you ask, for a man to deserve his freedom?” he added.