•Says international lawyers will take up my case
•We’re heading for an appeal, this judgment cannot stand — Kanu’s lawyer, Ejiofor
March 29, 2019
By Chukwuemeka Chimerue, Chief Editor, and Chikwas Onu Ikpe
ABUJA - Leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, Nnamdi Kanu, has reacted to Thursday’s ruling of the trial court which ordered for his arrest and the revocation of his bail, describing it as “a travesty of justice and a gang-up against him.”
Kanu who spoke on an emergency broadcast Thursday evening stated that the ruling “is a slap on the face of those that believes in fairness, equity and justice,” vowing to employ every available procedure, including contracting international lawyers to take up the case.
He lambasted the trial judge, Binta Nyako for delivering the ruling, saying she was hellbent on doing the bidding of the northern Fulani cabals and should, therefore, recuse herself from his case because according to him, the judge refused to entertain several applications seeking to establish the circumstances of his disappearance and inability to attend proceedings.
According to the IPOB leader, “I’ve been compelled to make this very emergency broadcast this evening by the turn of events. We know there’s a gang-up against IPOB, there’s a gang-up against Biafra and there’s a gang-up against my humble self but in all their doings, in all their plans, machinations and atrocities, they’ll never prevail because truth and light is on our side.
“What happened today (yesterday) in the lawcourt was just not a travesty but a slap on the face of those that believe in fairness, equity, and justice but in the zoo called Nigeria, Binta Nyako and her likes have reduced law to a laughable situation. What they have done is to drag themselves down with their Sharia mindset into the gutter and we’re here to help them accomplish that since they want to disgrace themselves.
RELATED NEWS: Biafra: Court orders arrest of Nnamdi Kanu, revokes bail
“While our lawyers are fighting this within the limits of the weak Nigerian judiciary, we have instructed our international lawyers to take up this new twist with the international legal and diplomatic order. We warn that all that assist in the unlawful taking of lives and liberty of Biafrans will in time to come, will be adequately punished and held accountable through every lawful means available to us.
“These wicked judges of which Binta Nyako has become one of them are not excluded. We’ll fight them every inch of the way. We’ll expose the zoo judiciary. The Nigerian Bench will be exposed to international ridicule and we’ll leave no stone unturned. Every judgment delivered will be publicly scrutinized with great deal of depth and precision so the world may know that Sharia has come into the legal system of the zoological republic.
“At the court of Binta Nyako, they have decided to do their worst, they have proceeded to issue a bench warrant against me without investigating the circumstances surrounding my non-appearance in their Kangaroo court. With the event that took place in my compound on the 14th of September, 2017, they were hoping with this ridiculous announcement to sweep the evidence given by one of those being tried with me, Chidiebere Onwudiwe, because of the torture we went through in the hands of these vagabonds.
“She did not want to hear the case against the Nigerian Army. Binta Nyako being a Fulani woman is doing the bidding of the cabal because her husband is in trouble, her child is in trouble and she felt the only people they can use to leverage their conditions is IPOB.
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“We have done nothing wrong, we have broken no laws. There’s no case before the court of Binta Nyako but she proceeded to conduct this sham trial in the hope of endearing herself to the Fulani caliphate, in the hope of perpetuating the rule of the uncivilized over the children of light and that cannot happen because justice is on our side.
“Having failed to secure bond forfeiture from Senator Abaribe and the rest, she turned her side on my predicament and revoked the bail without hearing the circumstances surrounding the attempt to assassinate me that led to the death of 28 people. There was no judicial review of attack against me. There was no public inquiry surrounding the circumstances that led the Army to come to my home to injure me and end up killing 28 people
“We’re going to teach her a very bitter lesson. We’ll tell her that we’re Biafrans and we can never be intimidated, not by her or by anybody. This very judge today, by the virtue of her ruling has forfeited every right to continue to preside over my case.
“In November of last year, we presented applications after applications before this very judge and in every occasion, she set it aside and said she won’t listen to it. When confronted by our lawyers, her only defence was to say that ‘this is my courtroom, I can do whatever I like’ and they claim that Nigeria is practicing democracy.
READ ALSO: Biafra: How DSS compelled me to write statements during detention, Onwudiwe testifies in court
“If Justice Binta Nyako feels that she’s under any form of pressure from the cabal which we know about, the only thing judicious for her to do in this very case is to refuse herself. She must remove herself from this very case because she has lost every moral authority to continue to preside on it.
“What do you expect from a country where a Sharia judge is the Chief Justice of the Federation? Anybody with any shred of common sense will tell you that it is a legal contradiction to revoke bail after deferring the issue of forfeiture of bail bonds by the sureties. It is a travesty of justice, something that has never happened before.
“If you know Binta Nyako very well, you must ask her these questions: ‘why was it that application after application precisely dealing with the circumstances surrounding the invasion of my house that led to the death of 28 persons were never entertained by your court? How can you proceed to issue a bench warrant without any hearing? How is it possible for you to give every leeway to the prosecution whenever they demand or request it but in our case, you’ve refused to entertain the numerous applications we brought before your court? Why are you conducting the persecution of Biafrans? This sham trial must be discontinued.”
Kanu’s lawyer to appeal against court ruling
Meanwhile, lawyer to the IPOB leader, Mr. Ifeanyi Ejiofor while reacting to the controversial ruling of the Federal High Court, revoking the bail of his client and issuing a bench warrant against him, assured that the order will not stand as it would be going for an appeal to challenge the ruling of the lower court.
Speaking to our reporters, shortly after the court proceedings the IPOB’s senior counsel stated that the defence team would immediately file a motion to vacate the “obnoxious order by the presiding judge,” citing the fact that the judge should have taken into consideration that his client, Nnamdi Kanu, did not willingly jump bail but was forced to leave the country after a failed assassination on him by the Nigerian military.
He added that the court has failed to give the defence an ample opportunity to establish its case on the circumstances leading to the disappearance and inability of the IPOB leader to stand for trial.
“The law is very trite and we’re concerned about the relevant case pursuant to the law which they rely upon which was Section 352(4) of the ACJA. The law also allows us ample time to explain to the court why my client is not here, which is also very sacrosanct.
“Secondly, the matter wasn’t coming up for a substantive suit, it was coming up for the hearing of the sureties’ application which was also noted by the prosecution when he was asked by the court the business of the day. He told the court that we are here for pending applications filed by the sureties.
“The sureties have gone on appeal based on the ruling delivered by the court at the last adjourned date and proceedings in that respect has been stayed(suspended). So it was expected that in that circumstance for a new date to be given to us for an outstanding trial.
“Then on that day, we’ll now furnish the court with particulars of the absence of my client; why he is not here today. That’s what we expected in the circumstance and also tender a shred of verifiable evidence because it is not something we can address the court orally. We have documents to prove in court why he is not here.
“It is more so when he is now confirmed to be alive. We’re now going to give firsthand information from him. It’s no longer like when you cannot confirm his whereabouts or cannot reach him. We know he’s alive and has given an account of what transpired between him and the military. So these are what we expected to explain in court but each time we want to inform or notify the court about this, it will say ‘No, Ejiofor, I don’t want to hear from you people, let me hear from the sureties, when we’re done with them, we now go back to your case.’
“Today(Thursday), we expected that having stayed the proceedings of the suretyship, the court would afford us ample time to address it on why he(Kanu) is not here.
“However, we intend to challenge this ruling on appeal. Of course, the court noted that I’m going for an appeal to challenge the ruling because not that he(judge) doesn’t have the power to revoke his bail or order for his arrest but the fact that we have to be given time for a fair hearing in line with the constitution.
“We haven’t been afforded time for a fair hearing, when this is done, we can now proceed. So, we are going to challenge it because no opportunity was given to the defence to offer the court explanation of his whereabouts but Section 352(4) of the ACJA is very clear that the defendant who is not in court to face trial should be allowed time to explain why he is not there. That’s what the law says and we have not really been given that opportunity since the inception of this case,” Ejiofor posited.
THE BIAFRA TIMES
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Publisher: Charles Opanwa
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