The Supreme Court of Nigeria received an appeal on Wednesday from the Nigerian government contesting the Court of Appeal's decision to discharge and acquit Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), of all charges.
According to The Nation, the government is requesting that the Appeal Court verdict of October 13 not be carried out, according to a plea for a stay of execution that was submitted before the Supreme Court.
The IPOB leader was released and found not guilty last Thursday by the Appeal Court, which also prohibited any lower court from considering any additional charges against him.
The Federal Government criticized the lower court's ruling and urged that it be overturned in a seven-ground notice of appeal that was filed by the office of the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF).
The Federal Government made several arguments, one of which was that the Court of Appeal erred when it criticized the process used to extradite Kanu to stand trial after he jumped bail and left the country.
It further argued that the Court of Appeal erred when it declared Kanu innocent of the charges against him and that the trial court lacked the authority to continue the case due to how he was brought back into the country.
Abubakar Malami and Nnamdi Kanu.
On Thursday, October 13, a three-member panel of Appeal Court Justices headed by Oludotun Adefope-Okojie issued a ruling regarding Kanu's appeal over his extraordinary rendition and deemed it unlawful.
The court also overturned the Nigerian government's allegations that Kanu committed treason and acts of terrorism.
The Appeal Court determined that Kanu's terrorism charges were invalid and unconstitutional because President Buhari's administration violated all known national and international laws when it forcibly returned Kanu to Nigeria.
The decision was based on an appeal filed by Kanu against a prior decision made by Justice Binta Nyako of the Federal High Court, Abuja, with the filing number CA/ABJ/CR/625/2022.
In a previous decision, Justice Binta Nyako of the Federal High Court invalidated eight of the fifteen counts, leaving seven of them up for review.
However, the Appeal Court determined in its decision that the Nigerian government broke all laws in extraditing Kanu to Nigeria, invalidating the charges.
It then went on to throw out the final seven of the initial 15 counts that the government had brought.
"By the illegal abduction and extraordinary rendition of the appellant, there was a clear violation, by the respondent (Federal Government) of international treaties, conventions, as well as the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights,” the court held.
The appeals court further ruled that because the Federal Government had flagrantly violated Kanu's fundamental rights, they no longer had the legal authority to prosecute him.
As a result, the trial court lacked the authority to try the appellant on the remaining counts of the accusation.
Nnamdi Kanu.
"No court can try him going by the circumstances of the extraordinary rendition,” the court ruled.
Justice Adefope-Okojie, therefore, declared that “having resolved issue one in favor of the appellant, which deals with jurisdiction, the appeal succeeds”.
“The order of Justice Binta Nyako which ordered the appellant to answer to counts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 8, and 15 is set aside, terminated, and dismissed.
“Appellant is accordingly discharged,” Justice Adefope-Okojie declared.
Nnamdi Kanu's Fundamental Rights Case Before the Abia High Court Is Unaffected by the Appeal Court Decision.
Despite the Court of Appeals' decision in favor of incarcerated IPOB leader Nnamdi Kanu, Aloy Ejimakor, Kanu's special attorney, stated that the Federal High Court's scheduled decision on the extraordinary rendition lawsuit will still stand on October 27.
In a statement on Wednesday, Ejimakor said, “This Press Release is compelled by the avalanche of inquiries I have been receiving from the media and others on whether the judgment set for 27th October at the Federal High Court, Umuahia on the suit I filed on extraordinary rendition will still hold. The answer is: Yes, it will still hold.
"The inquiries are necessitated by the judgment of the Court of Appeal in Abuja on 13th October. Despite this Court of Appeal judgment, the Federal High Court, Umuahia will still proceed with its judgment on 27th October 2022 as was previously scheduled.
"My office has not received it, and we do not expect to receive any notice from the court that the judgment has been adjourned.
"In my awareness that these inquiries mostly emanated from the major and significant impact extraordinary rendition had on the Court of Appeal judgment.
"I will hasten to add that, despite the common presence of extraordinary rendition, the issues and reliefs before the Court of Appeals in Abuja are markedly different from the issues and reliefs pending judgment before the Federal High Court, Umuahia.
“To be sure, the sole reason for the common presence of extraordinary rendition in both cases is because I had, as far back as August 2021, take it before the State High court in Umuahia and later to the Federal High court.
“In summary, the judgment of the Court of Appeal in Abuja considered the narrow issue of the impact of extraordinary rendition on the jurisdiction of the Federal High Court in Abuja to subject Mazi Nnamdi Kanu to trial.
"Conversely, the issues or prayers before the Federal High Court, Umuahia are many and different from the narrow issue of jurisdiction decided in the Abuja judgment.
“In summary, the case in Umuahia is sui generis as it borders on fundamental rights, whereas the judgment in Abuja bordered on jurisdiction.
"In conclusion, as the public has been previously informed by my clients, there is no Sit-at-home on the judgment day of 27th October 2022. Please be guided accordingly," Ejimakor added.
Kanu's US lawyer seeks sanctions against Buhari, Malami.
In the meantime, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu's Special Counsel Bruce Fein has petitioned the chairs of the US Senate and House of Representatives committees to impose sanctions on President Muhammadu Buhari, as well as the Attorney General of Nigeria, Abubakar Malami, to maintain Kanu's detention in defiance of a court order.
The US-born attorney specifically urged the affected committee chairs of both houses to persuade President Joe Biden to impose harsh sanctions on Buhari and Malami for disobeying both the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention Opinion of the United Nations Human Rights Council and the Nigerian court ruling ordering Kanu's immediate release.
Aloy Ejimakor, Kanu's Special Counsel in Nigeria, provided Vanguard with a copy of the letter, which was dated October 20, 2022, and was sent to various US Senate members.
Here is the full text of the letter:
“I represent Biafran leader Nnamdi Kanu.
“Mr. Kanu has been illegally detained in solitary confinement in cramped quarters for sixteen (16) months without adequate access to needed medical care or to counsel by Nigeria’s State Security Services controlled by President Muhammadu Buhari and Attorney General Abubakar Malami.
“Mr. Kanu’s detention followed his kidnapping, torture, and extraordinary rendition from Kenya in June 2021 to retaliate for advocating a Biafran independence referendum modeled on the United States-brokered 2011 referendum for South Sudan.
"Mr. Kanu opposes the use of force with the sole exception of self-defense.
"On July 20, 2022, the United Nations Human Rights Council Working Group on Arbitrary Detention issued an Opinion finding Nnamdi Kanu’s detention in violation of sixteen (16) international human rights guarantees.
"The Opinion ordered his “immediate and unconditional release,” Opinion, paragraph 107. (See Attachment A).
"President Buhari and Attorney General Malami have ignored the directive for nearly three (3) months with no indication that compliance will ever be forthcoming.
“In January 2022, following the extraordinary rendition of Mr. Kanu, a Nigerian High Court judgment impliedly exonerated him from the Nigerian government’s Orwellian claim that he had jumped bail in evading its notorious attempted assassination.
Bruce Fein.
“On October 13, 2022, the Court of Appeal of Nigeria, Abuja Judicial Division, Holden at Abuja, decreed that Nigeria’s detention of Mr. Kanu was illegal because of his extraordinary rendition from Kenya in violation of international and state laws. (See Attachment B).
"The Court ordered the dismissal of all charges against him. Again, President Buhari and Attorney General Malami have flouted the Court’s orders and kept Nnamdi Kanu illegally detained.
“The Opinions of the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention and the Court of Appeals of Nigeria speak for themselves. They are crystal clear.
“Accordingly, I would respectfully urge you individually and collectively to recommend to President Joe Biden that he impose sanctions against President Buhari and
recommend to President Joe Biden that he impose sanctions against President Buhari and Attorney General Malami for gross violations of Mr. Kanu’s internationally recognized human rights under the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act, 22 U.S.C. 2656 .
"Note, the sanctions should include ineligibility for a visa to enter the United States and blocking of all transactions in properties of Mr. Buhari and Mr. Malami in the United States.
“What Nigeria has done to Mr. Kanu is indistinguishable from Russian President Vladimir Putin, Chinese President Xi Jinping, and Saudi Arabian Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman sending thugs abroad to poison, murder, torture, silence, and intimidate dissidents to their dictatorial regimes.
"They are a threat to international peace and security and subvert the rule-based international order championed by the United States.
“To permit President Buhari’s and Attorney General Malami’s thuggery to escape with impunity would be unacceptable, ” Bruce Fein wrote.
Politics and Opinion.
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