Group slams Nigerian govt over Kanu’s detention

A group called Policy and Legal Advocacy Centre (PLAC) on Friday slammed the Federal Government over the continuous detention of the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu.

The PLAC’s Executive Director, Clement Nwankwo, who addressed journalists at a media briefing in Abuja, said the Court of Appeal had declared that the federal government flouted all local and international laws for forcefully bringing Kanu back to Nigeria from Kenya last year.

The Court of Appeal, Abuja, had on October 13 discharged the activist on terrorism charges brought against him by the government.

The government had since brought up other charges against the IPOB leader.

Nwankwo expressed concern that the federal government had ignored its responsibilities of protecting human rights as entrenched in the Constitution and other international human rights treaty obligations.

He said: “For instance, an October 13 ruling by the Court of Appeal specifically reprimanded the government for its role in abducting a wanted citizen from a foreign country without due process in order to bring him for trial.

READ ALSO: Kanu writes Malami, demands N20bn for alleged defamation

“Such an illegal action by the government in the terrorism and treasonable felony trial of Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, nullified the government’s case, making it ‘untriable’ in Nigeria, the court said in its landmark ruling.

“But the government has persisted in its ways by disregarding the court ruling and seeking an appeal at the same time. Both the federal and state governments have also demonstrated a lack of tolerance for criticism.

“They have often chosen to clamp down on critics by deploying regulatory powers, citing bogus laws and using security forces. Examples include the ban of Twitter and the numerous occasions where government officials, including the president’s wife, unlawfully arrest and detain critics and journalists.”

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