The detained leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, Nnamdi Kanu, has described as baseless and ill-advised the revised seven-count terrorism charges brought against him by the Nigerian Federal Government.
Kanu, who further described the charge as a "phantom " claimed that it was "surreptitiously" and "clandestinely" filed by the Federal Government hours after the 13th October, Appeal Court judgment when the prosecutor could not have received a certified true copy of the ruling and therefore was likely unaware of the full details and import of the Court of Appeal decision.
Speaking through his team of lawyers, the IPOB leader who is currently in the custody of the department of state services, DSS disclosed that the new charge bears the same Charge No. FHC/ABJ/ER/383/2015, as that which the Appeal Court, Abuja division already pronounced upon and struck out.
Nnamdi Kanu
According to Vanguard's investigation, all of the accusations against the IPOB leader that had previously been sustained by the trial court were included in the revised charge that was filed before the Federal High Court in Abuja with the file number FHC/ABJ/CR/383/2015.
The Federal Government specifically alleged that Kanu, who is currently detained by the Department of State Service (DSS), had as a member of an illegal group issued a lethal threat that anyone who disobeyed his sit-at-home order in the Southeastern region of the country should write his or her will, in a broadcast that was heard and received throughout Nigeria.
It informed the court that because of the threat, banks, schools, markets, shopping malls, and fuel stations located in the Eastern States of Nigeria have continued to shut down their businesses, with both pedestrian and vehicular traffic grounded.
The Federal Government further claimed that between 2018 and 2021, the IPOB leader made broadcasts that were heard and received in Nigeria and incited people to kill and hunt down members of the Nigerian security forces and their families, violating Section 1(2)(h) of the 2013 Terrorism Prevention Amendment Act.
Further, it claimed that Kanu gave orders to IPOB members "to manufacture bombs," and that between March and April 2015, the defendant "imported into Nigeria and kept in Ubuluisiuzor in Ihiala local government area of Anambra state, within the jurisdiction of this Honorable Court a Radio Transmitter known as Tram 50L concealed in a container of used household items which you declared as used household items and you thereby committed an offense contrary to section 47 (2) (a) of Criminal Code Act Cap, C45 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004."
Kanu had earlier entered a not-guilty plea on these charges.
Kanu's reaction
In response to the amended charges filed by the federal government, the IPOB leader in a press statement signed by a senior member of his defense team, Mr. Ifeanyi Ejiofor, decried that the FG had yet to serve him with a copy of the seven-count amended charge.
“From all indications, the new alleged charge has the same Charge No. FHC/ABJ/ER/383/2015, as the one already pronounced upon and struck out by the Court of Appeal, Abuja Division.
"The said intermediate court completely discharged Onyendu Mazi Nnamdi Kanu and further prohibited his being tried or prosecuted in any court of law in Nigeria.
“The said judgment of the Court of Appeal is extant and still subsists to date, and has not been set aside by any superior court.
“Onyendu Mazi Nnamdi Kanu’s formidable team ably led by the oracle of the Law – Chief Ozekhome SAN – has already promptly appealed to the Supreme Court against the Court of Appeal’s ruling staying execution of its judgment which had set Kanu free.
“The Appeal in respect thereto has been duly entered in Appeal No. SC/CR/1394/2022, at the Supreme Court, and is now awaiting a date for a hearing.
“It is also worthy to note that this judgment of the Court of Appeal still stands to date as the same has not been set aside by the Supreme Court.
“It is imperative to state therefore that on the strength of this judgment, no charge of whatever nature, and under any guise, can ever be presented or stand against Onyendu Mazi Nnamdi Kanu before any court of law in Nigeria.
“Our inquiry this evening upon reading about the phantom charge in the social media revealed to us that the rumored charge was surreptitiously but clandestinely filed by the Federal Government hours after the judgment of the Court of Appeal was delivered on the 13th Day of October 2022. This was even before it had received a certified true copy of the said judgment of the Court of Appeal.
“The filing of the said charge was ill-informed and ill-advised, because the Prosecutor (Federal Government), we presume and may want to believe, was not then aware of the details, full import, and implication, of the well-delivered judgment of the Court of Appeal, at the time of filing the said charge.
“We also want to believe that this is what has led to the Federal Government’s abandonment of the charge after it was hurriedly filed.
“It is pertinent to note also that the Federal Government did not take any step to either serve the charge on our Client – Onyendu Mazi Nnamdi Kanu – or on our erudite lead Counsel – Chief Mike Ozekhome, SAN – after it was filed; even till this moment.
“This is to doubly assure UMUCHINEKE that our legal team eminently led by the legal icon of our time – Chief Mike Ozekhome, SAN – will be in court on Monday, the 14th of November, 2022, to tackle any underhand tactics or results in the Federal Government may have planned to achieve by sleight of hand, with a charge which has been pronounced dead like “dodo”; and permanently buried”, the statement read.
Dismissed Appeal
Earlier, on April 8, trial Justice Nyako dismissed eight of the fifteen counts of charges that the FG had brought against Kanu, reasoning that they were merely repetitions and did not reveal any offense that could be supported by the proof of evidence before the court.
The court authorized Kanu's trial on charges 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 8, and 15, but tossed out counts 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, and 14 of the charge.
In the counts that were dismissed, the FG claimed, among other things, that Kanu had incited the public through his broadcasts to carry out a violent revolution, attack police personnel, and demolish public buildings in Lagos State.
Unhappy with the trial judge's decision to uphold some of the accusations made against him, Kanu appealed the case to the Abuja Division of the Court of Appeal, where he won.
Court of Appeal Judgement
In its ruling, a three-member panel of the appellate court chaired by Justice Jummai Hanatu-Sankey overturned the entire 15-count accusation while also clearing the IPOB leader of all charges and ordering his release from custody.
The court declared that it was satisfied that the FG had flagrantly broken all known rules when it forcefully renditioned Kanu from Kenya to Nigeria to continue his trial.
The Court decided that the appellant's fundamental human rights had been violated and that the extraordinary rendition, which had taken place without following due process of law, was a grave breach of all international conventions, treaties, protocols, and guidelines to which Nigeria is a signatory.
In its lead decision, which was issued by Justice Oludotun Adetope-Okojie, the appellate court noted that FG had failed to counter the allegation that the IPOB leader was in Kenya when he was kidnapped and returned to Nigeria without going through the extradition procedure.
It declared that the Federal Government was " ominously silent on the issue," which was crucial in evaluating whether the trial court would still have the authority to conduct the criminal case that was before it.
The appellate court determined that the FG's actions constituted "an abuse of criminal prosecution in general" and tarnished the entire process it started against Kanu.
Supreme Court Appeal
Since then, the FG has petitioned the Supreme Court to vacate the judgment and also convinced the appellate court to halt the execution of its decision until the appeal before the Supreme Court court is resolved.
In response, the IPOB leader
via his legal team filed an appeal with the Supreme Court challenging the government's decision to keep him in custody notwithstanding the appellate court's ruling.
Kanu also questioned the legality of the appellate court's decision to halt the execution of its ruling that put an end to future proceedings in his trial.
The IPOB leader asserts that there are no provisions for a stay of execution of a Court of Appeal judgment entered in a criminal appeal under either the Court of Appeal Rules 2021 or the Court of Appeal Act, 2004.
Following his re-arrest in Kenya, Kanu has been held in detention for more than 14 months. He is asking the Supreme Court to overturn the decision suspending the Court of Appeal's decision that was in his favor.
He has also filed a separate lawsuit to compel the government to publicly apologize to him without reservation in two National Dailies and to compensate him with N100 billion for the duration of his continued detention.
For the seven-count amended charges recently filed by the Federal Government, trial Judge Binta Nyako has already set aside Monday for both Kanu's legal team, led by Chief Mike Ozekhome, SAN, and the prosecution counsel, to address the court regarding the next steps in the case.
The parties will argue whether the Federal Government could go ahead to re-arraign the IPOB leader on the modified charge in light of the Court of Appeal's October 13 decision exonerating him from all charges as well as appeals on the matter which are still pending before the Supreme Court.
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