The apex Igbo socio-cultural organisation Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide has described the decision of Nigeria’s Supreme Court nullifying the judgement of the Court of Appeal that ordered to release of Nnamdi Kanu as shocking and unbelievable.
Reacting to the judgement on Friday, the spokesman for the apex Igbo body, Dr Alex Ogbonnia, told disclosed that Ohanaeze will review the judgement of the court and come up with its firm position.
Ohanaeze spokesman, who spoke on the telephone, said that the court cannot approbate and reprobate. “The court held that the government abduction of Kanu from Kenya was illegal and at the same time said he should face trial, which means the government will benefit from its wrongs by this judgement.
“But as I said, Ohanaeze Ndigbo will certainly meet and digest the decision, and its implications to Southeast security and the well-being of its people, and also come up with its position on the trial of Kanu henceforth.”
Kanu is the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) which is calling for the independent state of Biafra following what the group described as the systematic marginalisation of the Southeast region by the Nigerian government.
The apex court on Friday voided the judgement of the Court of Appeal that ordered the government to release the IPOB leader from detention.
Though the apex court, in a unanimous decision by a five-member panel of Justices, acknowledged that the Nigerian Government acted unlawfully when it forcefully brought Kanu back to the country from Kenya, it, however, held that it was not enough to stop the trial court from continuing with the case.
It held that no legislation in the country stripped the trial court of its jurisdiction to go ahead with Kanu’s case despite the government’s unlawful action.
The court also knocked the trial court for revoking Kanu’s bail after he escaped to save his life following the invasion of his home by security agents in September 2017, which led to the killing of some people in his house.
The IPOB leader, who was first arrested by security agents in Lagos on October 14, 2015, has been detained by the Department of State Services (DSS) since June 2021.
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