Mike Ozekhome, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, SAN, has called on the federal government to immediately release the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu.
This came as a reaction to Kanu’s discharge by the Court of Appeal in Abuja, the nation’s capital on Thursday.
A senior counsel to the leader of IPOB, during a television session, explained that Kanu is expected to regain his freedom now. Thursday.
The Appeal Court had ruled that the federal government’s action was in contravention of the Terrorism Act, Extradition Act and also constituted a breach of international treaties and conventions which guide extraditions, hence a violation of Kanu’s rights.
Abubakar Malami who’s the Attorney-General of the Federation, while reacting to the judgment revealed that the case is not over for the IPOB leader and that he was only discharged but not acquitted.
“For the avoidance of doubt and by the verdict of the Court, Kanu was only discharged and not acquitted,” Malami said.
While reacting to Malami’s submission, Ozekhome said, “What it (the ruling) means is that Nnamdi Kanu was discharged today. That means he is a free man.
“And he should be allowed to go home tomorrow by the time we get a certified true copy of the judgment, we serve it to the Office of the Attorney-General and the DSS to allow Nnamdi Kanu go. Let my people go.”
In the same vein, the special counsel of KANU, Aloy Ejimakor on Friday through a statement made available to newsmen referred to the AGF’s submission as “flatly wrong and it is perverse to boot.”
“If the Federal Government refuses or stalls on releasing Kanu solely because it desires to levy further or new charges, it will amount to a burgeoning holding charge which is impermissible in our jurisprudence.
“Thus, before the levying of any new charges can have a toga of legality or chances of conferring prosecutorial jurisdiction, Kanu has to be released first. Anything to the contrary will be nugatory,” Ejimakor added.
