The Pacesetter Frontier Magazine

Tag: Nnamdi kanu’s trial

  • Nigeria wants to imprison Kanu without trial, US lawyer writes Ohanaeze

    Nigeria wants to imprison Kanu without trial, US lawyer writes Ohanaeze

    Bruce Fein, the United States-based lawyer of the leader of the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra, Nnamdi Kanu, has written to the Ohanaeze Ndigbo.

    He warned the group not to sit on the legal fence, noting that Nigeria plans to imprison Kanu indefinitely without trial.

    In the letter, Bruce Fein of Bruce Fein Law Firms, Washington DC exposed alleged plans by the Federal Government to imprison Nnamdi Kanu indefinitely without a trial praying for either for his death.

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    “It has become obvious beyond a reasonable doubt that the Fulani zealots have no incriminating evidence against him. They aim to imprison Nnamdi Kanu indefinitely without a trial praying for either for his death or handing his fraudulent prosecution to the next administration and wash their hand like Pontius Pilate,” part of the read.

    Part of the letter read, “For nearly a year, Nnamdi Kanu has been punished by indefinite detention in solitary confinement and denied access to needed nutrition, medical care, and counsel of choice in violation of international human rights law and the Nigerian Constitution. (The Fulani government notoriously honors the Constitution in the breach rather than in the observance). Nnamdi Kanu has also been denied his rights to a public, prompt, and fair trial before an impartial judge.

    “The Fulani have amended the charges against Nnamdi Kanu three times. They remain infinitely vague. They trespass on the universally recognized international law right of every people to self-determination exalted in Article 1 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and Article 3 of United Nations General Assembly Resolution 61/295, Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (2007). Notwithstanding armies of lawyers and investigators, the Fulani remain unprepared for trial after the elapse of more than 11 months since Nnamdi Kanu’s detention in Abuja. There still is no trial date.”

    Fein, who is Nnamdi Kanu’s international lawyer and spokesperson further warned Ohanaeze, “Face up to your legal and moral responsibilities as professed Biafran leaders. Do not show your heels when danger appears.

    “To whom much is given, much will be required. Luke 12:48. All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men and women to do nothing.

    “Nnamdi Kanu is one of you – born on the same soil, raised on the same food, buoyed by the same music and dances, and nurtured by the same culture, inspired by the same flag. He has risked that last full measure of devotion (including dodging bullets of would-be assassins) to deliver the Biafran people from the cruel oppressions and genocide of the Fulani-controlled Government of Nigeria like Moses and Pharaoh in the Old Testament.”

    Fein said the prosecution climbed to a new level of farce on May 25, 2022, adding, “A bail hearing had been set by Justice Binta Nyako for May 26. Bail has been denied on the preposterous theory that Nnamdi Kanu previously jumped bail in September 2017 when he barely escaped an assassination attempt by exercising his unalienable right to self-preservation when Nigerian security forces riddled his residence with bullets murdering many others. An Abia High Court has awarded Nnamdi Kanu 5 billion naira for that flagrant and notorious violation of fundamental rights.

    “The day before the bail hearing, Justice Nyako announced through the court Registrar that she had become “indisposed” and had adjourned the case another month to June 28, 2022. Couldn’t the Justice concoct a better excuse, like affliction with Covid? “Indisposed” means a mild illness that passes in days. A more likely explanation is that Attorney General Abubakar Malami, acting on the instructions of President Muhammadu Buhari, ordered Nyako to again postpone the proceedings because the prosecution has no case.

    “Depend upon it. Without public denunciation of Nnamdi Kanu’s continued political persecution thundering like a hammer on an anvil demanding his release and a dismissal of the manufactured charges with prejudice, the June 28 bail hearing will also be postponed ad infinitum. Nnamdi Kanu’s cruel punishment without trial will persist in notorious violation of the Nigerian Constitution and international law.

    “You collectively, have a legal and moral duty to speak out publicly against this travesty of justice that daily inflicts great misery on the Biafran people. Do not become traitors to the noble cause. Risk a tiny fraction of what Nnamdi Kanu has risked to regain Biafran sovereignty. It was stolen by the British over a century ago and the Fulani have refused to restore it by resorting to genocide.

    “Silence is not acceptable. Neutrality between the firefighter and the fire is not an option. You cannot escape the judgment of history. Show you are made of sterner stuff than quislings.”

    Recall that last June, Nnamdi Kanu was kidnapped, tortured for several days, and extraordinarily renditioned from Nairobi to Abuja in a criminal conspiracy between Nigeria and Kenya.

    Fein advised, “The conspiracy was part of an ongoing Nigerian genocide of Biafrans prohibited by the Genocide Convention. The aim is to exterminate them through killings, rape, plunder, starvation, theft of real and personapersonal property, and a collective denial of livelihood.”

    (Punch)

  • Nnamdi Kanu’s trial shifted as fresh charges emerge.

    The re-arraignment of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) leader Nnamdi Kanu on amended terrorism charges was stalled yesterday before the Federal High Court in Abuja.

    New lead defence counsel, Dr Mike Ozekhome (SAN), sought time to enable him to study the amended 15-count charge filed by the prosecution on January 17.

    The SAN argued that the defence was ambushed with the fresh charge.

    He claimed that the proof of evidence served on the defence by the prosecution was not legible enough to enable them to know what constitutes the fresh charge.

    “My Lord, as I am talking now, the defendant does not know the charge yet. He is just interacting with me.

    “He cannot be made to take his plea in relation to a charge he has not seen.

    “The principle of fair hearing is just being violated by the Federal Government.

    “The frail-looking defendant standing in the dock there has not been allowed to access his family as directed by this Honourable Court.

    “I went to DSS to see him and I was almost stripped naked before I could see him.

    “We pray that the arraignment is adjourned till tomorrow (today) to enable his lawyers to study the new charge along with him in the interest of justice,” Ozekhome said.

    Lead prosecuting lawyer, Magaji Labaran, faulted the defence’s claim that the amended charge was an ambush.

    He also faulted the defence’s claim of Kanu not being properly fed, allowed to practice his religion and allowed free access to his family members.

    He, however, did not object to the defence’s request for an adjournment.

    Justice Binta Nyako adjourned till January 19 for arraignment on the amended charge.

    Before adjourning, Justice Binta Nyako ordered that the defendant and his lawyers be allowed to interact within the courtroom for a while before being taken away.

    On the defendant’s complaints, the judge ordered that he be allowed to change his clothes.

    “I don’t want to see him in this cloth again. This one is almost off-white. Also, make sure that you allow him to exercise,” the judge said.

    Justice Nyako however reminded the defendant that a detention facility is not a 5-Star hotel.

    She declined the defendant’s oral request that a foreign lawyer, Bruce Fein, be allowed into the courtroom to observe proceedings.

    The judge said the request would be allowed upon a written application and approval by the Chief Judge.

    Operatives of the State Security Service (SSS) brought Kanu into the courtroom at about 9.50 am.

    He exchanged pleasantries with some of his family members and his lawyers.

    Earlier, one of Kanu’s lawyers, Ifeanyi Ejiofor, told our correspondent that the defence beefed up its legal team by engaging some senior lawyers, among whom is Ozekhome.

    Ejiofor was, however, silent on the identity of the others.

    Some supporters of Kanu, who stormed the court premises in large numbers, clashed with security operatives.

    They chanted “Holy Holy Holy, Nnamdi Kanu is another Saviour”.

    The IPOB supporters were at the other end of the Ministry of Justice when the security agents tried to disperse them.

    The supporters refused, arguing that the security operatives gave free access to a pro-government group who were drumming and singing.

    This resulted in a face-off between the supporters and security operatives who later called for reinforcement.

    Commissioner of Police, Sunday Babaji, said there was no clash of any sort.

    Source: www.thenationonlineng.net

  • Nnamdi Kanu pleads not guilty to seven count charge, challenges competence of Nigerian court jurisdiction to try the case.

     

    A Federal High Court in Abuja yesterday adjourned the trial of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) leader, Nnamdi Kanu, till November 10.

     

    Trial Justice Binta Nyako fixed the date after the office of the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) informed the court that it had filed a fresh seven-count charge against Kanu.

     

    After the fresh counts were read to him, Kanu pleaded not guilty. He also challenged the competence of the charge and the court’s jurisdiction to try the case in a fresh application.

     

    Kanu, it was gathered, requested to be transferred to the Kuje Correctional Centre in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). However, Justice Nyako declined and directed that three people of his choice should be allowed to visit him in the DSS custody on Thursdays.

     

    The amended charge include secession threat, description of President Mohammadu Buhari as a terrorist and idiot; being member of IPOB and inciting IPOB members to kill security operatives.

     

    Kanu had been granted bail in April 2017 on health grounds. But, he skipped bail after flouting some of the conditions given to him by the court.

     

    IPOB was subsequently declared a terrorist group by the Federal Government.

     

    He was arrested and returned to Nigeria from Kenya on June 20. On June 28 when he was taken to court by the DSS for his treason trial to continue, Justice Nyako ordered that he should be remanded in DSS custody.

     

    On July 26 when the case was to restart, the DSS failed to produce him.

     

    Kanu, dressed in grey Fendi attire, entered the court around 10am, guarded by the DSS.

     

    Shortly after the proceedings, his lawyers took pictures with him.

     

    His lead counsel, Ifeanyi Ejiofor, said he was challenging the court’s jurisdiction on the grounds that the alleged offences were committed in the United Kingdom and not in Nigeria.

     

    Before his arrival, there was pandemonium at the court’s entrance as lawyers clashed with DSS personnel for refusing them access into the premises.

     

    Court officials were made to stand in queue and searched before being allowed into the court premises.

     

    Some reporters who were allowed in did not go beyond the ground floor of the five-floor court building. The proceedings were held on the fifth floor.

     

    Some security agents said they were instructed to prevent media coverage of the proceedings.

     

    Prominent Nigerians, including a former Anambra State Governor Chukwuemeka Ezeife; leader of the Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB), Chief Ralph Uwazurike, and Senator Ifeanyi Uba (Anambra South) were also prevented from witnessing the proceedings.

     

    Eziefe, who arrived at the court with Ejiofor, lamented that he could not see the IPOB leader after being left in the sun for hours.

     

    But, the former governor, who heads the Ohanaeze Ndigbo team monitoring the trial, said the development would herald the birth of a new Nigeria.

     

    Uba frowned at the way he was treated, arguing that as a senator, he ought to be allowed to witness the case.

     

    An activist, Deji Adeyanju, said: “At least, even under military rule, journalists would be given access to the courts. Members of the general public could also access the court. But today (yesterday) the reverse is the case. It is most unfortunate and unbelievable that this is supposed to be a democracy.

     

    Ohanaeze Ndigbo said Kanu’s appearance in court amounted to the beginning of victory.

     

    “This is one step forward in Ohanaeze’s determined moves towards ensuring that the Afara Ukwu Prince is set free in no distant time,” its spokesman, Chiedozie Ogbonnia, said in a statement.

     

    The organisation urged youths in the Southeast to show restraints, prudence, and maturity in their legitimate demands for equity, justice, and fairness.

     

    The statement reads in part: “The diplomatic engagements by Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide has apparently yielded a positive result as the Federal Government has through the DSS bowed to the overwhelming demands of Ndigbo by producing Kanu in court.

     

    “We are unrelenting in our resolve to ensure that the government toes the path of wisdom by conceding to the proposal for ‘Dialogue and Alternative Dispute Resolution’ which will ensure the unconditional freedom of Mazi Kanu and all members of IPOB detained across Nigeria.”

     

    Demanding unconditional release of Kanu, IPOB said he has not “committed any crime to deserve persecution”

     

    It also asked the Federal Government to prepare a date for a referendum on Biafra.

     

    In a statement by its Media and Publicity Secretary, Emma Powerful, IPOB commended those that played various roles in ensuring that Kanu was produced in court.

     

    He said: “We wish to commend all the honorable men and women, including renowned groups in the world who lent their voices in advising Federal Government and the DSS to produce our leader Nnamdi Kanu today (yesterday) in court.

     

    “Those who played a role in producing our leader in court have done Nigeria and DSS some great service. Thank God, they listened to wise counsel and did not fail to produce our leader in court today.

     

    “Now that he appeared in court today, and Biafran can confirm that he is alive, Nigeria must do the needful and release him unconditionally.

     

    Read Also: Umuahia, Aba deserted as IPOB’s Kanu appears in court

    “Nigeria government should prepare a date for the referendum on Biafra. Those who want to sabotage Biafra freedom should wait for referendum date.”

     

    After the adjournment, Kanu’s supporters, who were also barred from the court premises burst into solidarity songs.

     

    An activist, Omoyele Sowore, was allegedly attacked by hoodlums.

     

    He was standing outside the court premises when the hoodlums swooped on him.

     

    DSS operatives warned the attackers to back off.

     

    Sowore explained why he was in the court.

     

    He said: “I am here to check the registry because for a while I have not been charged to court. I need to know about my treason case.

     

    “Also, I am here to witness the trial of my friend, Nnamdi Kanu. The courtroom is incomplete, except the public observers watch and if it is a secrete trial, the public must know it‘s a secrete trial. You cannot have a secret trial in a public courtroom.”

     

    A shop, fully stocked with provisions, cosmetics, and household items, was yesterday morning set ablaze by hoodlums enforcing another sit-at-home order in Enugu State.

     

    The hoodlums also set ablaze a container truck conveying goods to Abakaliki, Ebonyi State in another at Eke Obinagu.

     

    The driver of the truck belonging to a popular transport company was said to have escaped unhurt.

     

    IPOB had threatened a one-month sit-at-home beginning from yesterday if Kanu was not produced in court.

     

    The threat also made residents of Ebonyi, Abia, Anambra, and Imo states stay indoors to avoid being attacked by enforcers of the order.

     

    The owner of the shop in Ekeagu was said to have opened in defiance of the order when a group of youths arrived and set fire to it.

     

    Eyewitnesses said: “They dragged the shop owner out while one of them went to their vehicle to get petrol with which they set the shop ablaze. They also ensured that the fire totally gutted the shop and its contents”

     

    Banks, parks, schools major roads, and streets, including fuel stations, remained under lock and key in all the five Southeast states.

     

     

     

     

    Source: www.thenationonlineng.net

  • DSS accredits only 10 media organizations to cover Nnamdi Kanu’s trial, bars PUNCH, The Guardian, Vanguard, Daily Times and some other media organizations.

     

    The Department of State Services has barred The PUNCH and some media organisations from covering the trial of the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, Nnamdi Kanu, as his trial continues today.

     

    Also barred along with The PUNCH are The Guardian, Vanguard, Daily Trust, Tribune, Daily Sun, The Cable, and Daily Times, among others.

    The media organisations the DSS accredited are Daily Post, ThisDay, Premium Times, The Nation, Daily Independent, The Herald, National Television Authority, Television Continental, African Independent Television and Channels Television.

     

    The DSS did not give reasons for picking 10 media houses while barring others from covering the trial.

     

    A call to the DSS spokesman, Dr Peter Afunnaya, rang out, while a text message sent to him on the action of the secret police had yet to be responded to as of the time of writing this report.

     

    However, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Mike Ozekhome, who condemned the decision to prevent The PUNCH and other media organisations from covering the trial, said the position of the law was that every trial should be carried out in public and everyone was entitled to watch the proceedings.

     

    He said, “Our legal system does not admit of secret trials. We are not a country of witches and wizards operating in a coven. For a trial to be free and fair, Section 36 of the constitution says it must be carried out openly and publicly. Banning some media houses from covering Nnamdi Kanu’s trial is not only a sin against Section 36 of the constitution, it also violently offends the provision of Section 22 of the same constitution which gives the media the right and responsibility to ensure that the provisions of Chapter Two of the constitution dealing with the fundamental objectives and directive principles of state policy are upheld and that the government is held accountable to the people of Nigeria.”

     

    Speaking in a similar vein, Remi Olatubora (SAN) said preventing media organisations from performing their constitutional duty ran contrary to the right to freedom of expression as guaranteed under Chapter Four of the Nigerian Constitution.

     

    Olatubora said, “It is a signal that we are now under a full dictatorship. One serious angle to the barring of a section of the media is whether the trial can still in those circumstances be regarded as trial in the public or a free and fair trial as required by the constitution.”

     

    Also, Boma Alabi (SAN) said, “Generally speaking, the courtroom is a public space, everyone can come in.

     

    “If it is a contentious trial that people can come in and disrupt proceedings, then the court will make arrangements to ensure that the proceedings are not disrupted. It is within the court’s right to do so.”

     

    A Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Ifedayo Adedipe, also questioned the Federal Government’s motives in excluding The PUNCH, and some other national papers from Nnamdi Kanu’s trial.

     

    He said, “It is obvious that The PUNCH has taken a stand against the oppressive nature of this regime and the government now sees the media house as an unfriendly organisation that they do not want to have anything to do with.

     

    “The facts will speak for themselves, whether some newspapers are excluded or not. Nnamdi Kanu is expected to have a fair and open trial and preventing some media houses from being there will not do credit to the image of the government.

     

    “I will advise The PUNCH and other newspapers to keep their heads up and not be discouraged by this government. Some of the issues usually raised by these newspapers are critical national issues. I believe that it is only people who are beneficiaries of nepotism that will say that this government is  not oppressive or discriminatory.”

     

     

     

     

     

    Source: www.punchng.com