Igbo Group Asks Justice Nyako To Hands Off IPOB Case

IEI, in a statement by its President, Mazi Tochukwu Ezeoke and the Secretary, Lawrence Nwobu, called on Justice Binta Nyako “to redeem herself by quashing all charges against IPOB members and put a stop to the shameful trial/persecution or withdraw forthwith from the trial.” It said: “The attention of Igbo Ekunie Initiative, a coalition of professionals in Nigeria and the Diaspora was recently drawn to trial proceedings in Mr. Nnamdi Kanu’s case wherein, Justice Binta Murtala Nyako declared that Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe, who had stood as one of the sureties, must produce Mr. Kanu or go to jail.“We find this declaration illogical, irrational and indeed against the dictates of natural justice. We note that Mr. Kanu was on bail and was resident in his address until the Federal Government flouted the law and launched a bloody invasion of his home in full view of a global audience. While dozens of people were brutally killed in Kanu’s residence, Kanu himself has not been seen since the bloody raid. “Against this backdrop, and beyond any doubt, the responsibility for first violating the rule of law by invading Kanu’s home and second, his subsequent disappearance rest on the Nigerian army and Federal Government.

“We note therefore that Justice Nyako’s bizarre and illogical declarations continue to demonstrate that she is working on an agenda and script dictated by the Federal Government. This is more so, considering her demonstrated bias in the handling of the Kanu/IPOB case. “It is important to note that several courts had previously granted Mr. Kanu and other IPOB activists unconditional bail which the Federal Government refused to obey.

Yet when the case came before her court, rather than insist that the rule of law be followed and that the Federal Government must in the first instance comply with previous court judgments granting Mr. Kanu and others unconditional bail, she chose to desecrate her own institution; abdicate her responsibility to dispense justice without fear or favour and she became a stooge for the Federal Government, by acting on the government’s persecution script. “When eventually she granted Mr. Kanu bail under intense public pressure; again acting on the script of the Federal Government, she imposed impossible conditions that stripped Kanu of his constitutionally guaranteed fundamental rights…

“We note that Justice Binta Nyako’s court has repudiated the essence of the rule of law and now uses her court to advance the tyranny of the Federal Government against ordinary citizens. “In line with the Federal Government’s agenda, her court has unjustly continued to prosecute/persecute IPOB members even when it is established that they broke no law and acted within their constitutionally guaranteed rights to freedom of expression and the right to self-determination. “We note the hypocrisy and double standards of the Federal Government and Justice Binta Nyako in continuing the prosecution/persecution of non-violent IPOB members in the same country where herdsmen that are killing hundreds of people across the country are never arrested and thousands of murderous Boko Haram terrorists are being released without trial.’’

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