CSOs question Justice Nyako’s bail condition to IPOB leader Kanu

A coalition of Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) have queried the basis warranting the Tuesday bail condition Justice Binta Nyako of the Federal High Court, Abuja, granted the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu.

The group in a statement jointly endorsed by nine CSOs namely Centre for Social Justice (CSJ), The Moldova Foundation (MF), Save Nigeria Group (SNG), Lawyers of Conscience, Kindgom Human Rights Foundation, Civil Liberties Organisation (CLO), Peoples Rights Organisation (PRO), Campaign for Democracy (CD) and Access to Rights Initiative (ARI), argued that the bail condition which they termed stringent, amounted to a denial of bail.

Those who signed the statement were Eze Onyekpere of CSJ, Dr Sam Amadi MF, Benedict Ezeagu SNG, Princewill Akpakpan LC, Okere Nnamdi KHRF, Ibuchukwu Ezike CLO, Chris Nwadigo PRO, Dede Uzor CD, and Mathew Edaghese ARI.

They said, “The first condition that Mr. Kanu must not be in a crowd of more than ten persons is an impossible condition to fulfil. The implication is that he can no longer go to a church or a place of worship, market or restaurant among others. He will violate this condition if his immediate nuclear and extended families who will welcome him number over ten. This will likely happen as he is stepping out of the prison yard. What purpose does this condition serve?”

Justice Nyako granted Kanu bail on health grounds and in the aggregate sum of N300million with other conditions.

One of the conditions was that one of the sureties must be of Igbo ethnic nationality. But the group wondered under what law or which section of the constitution Nyako derived the authorisation for that and when the ethnic origin of an accused person or surety became essential for the accused to be released on bail.

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“In the event Mr. Kanu finds Nigerians that are not of Igbo ethnic extraction as sureties, they would therefore not qualify. And if Mr. Kanu cannot get a senator to stand surety for him, he will not be allowed to go and attend to his health? How many senators, in these days of the anti-corruption drive will agree to post a bail bond for N100 million without making themselves vulnerable to being pulled over by the anti-corruption agencies?, the group said.

Faulting another condition which stipulated that a prominent Jewish leader should be the second surety, the group said Nyako’s position on that was farfetched. It noted that the fact that Kanu said that Judaism is his religion, did not in any way justify asking him to present a non-Nigerian to stand as his surety.

The CSOs then asked that those conditions be varied or that Kanu be freed unconditionally to enable him attend to his health issues and for the general interest of the criminal justice system and the reputation of Nigeria as a democratic society.

 

 

 

 

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