One of the lawyers to Namdi kanu, Barrister Aloy Ejimakor, has reacted to the Attorney General of the Federation, AGF, Abubakar Malami’s position that the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, Kanu, may not be released despite the Appeal Court’s ruling.
Recall that the Court of Appeal in Abuja on Thursday declared as illegal and unlawful the abduction of the Biafra nation agitator, Nnamdi Kanu, from Kenya to Nigeria and quashed the entire terrorism charges brought against him by the Federal Government.
The Court held that the Federal Government breached all local and international laws in the forceful rendition of Kanu to Nigeria, thereby making the terrorism charges against him incompetent and unlawful.
However, Malami has hinted that the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, Nnamdi Kanu may not be released despite the Appeal Court’s ruling.
Malami said the Federal Government would pursue other charges against Kanu.
But reacting to AGF Malami’s position on the Court of Appeal judgment regarding Kanu, Barrister Ejimakor in a statement titled “My reaction to AGF Malami’s position on the Court of Appeal judgment regarding Nnamdi Kanu, said Malami was wrong and that no new charges can stick against Kanu.
His statement read: “The position of AGF Malami on the Court of Appeal judgment regarding Nnamdi Kanu is flatly wrong and it is perverse to boot
“If the FG 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.
“Further, no new charges can stick against Kanu because, in the present circumstance, the extraordinary rendition is an abiding factor that has created a permanent barrier to his prosecution.
“Keep in mind that the extant trial of Kanu could never have proceeded had he not been illegally renditioned. So, it is not legally possible to lose jurisdiction in the extant charges and at once obtain jurisdiction in the next round of charges.
“The judgment of the Court of Appeal has therefore grandfathered a continuing lack of prosecutorial jurisdiction that will, in the interim, be very hard to overcome.
“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”.
