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Kanu’s lawyer, Ejiofor, slams Malami over plans to keep IPOB leader in prison

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Counsel to the detained leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, on Friday, slammed the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, over plan to further detain Kanu despite his discharge from treasonable felony charges by the Court of Appeal.

The appellate court on Friday charged the activist on a 15-count charge of treasonable felony and terrorism filed against him by the Federal Government last year.

However, in a statement issued on Thursday night by his Special Assistant on Media and Public Relations, Umar Gwandu, the AGF insisted that Kanu has not been acquitted by the appeal court.

He noted that the court decided only a single issue that borders on the IPOB leader’s rendition from Kenya.

Ejiofor, who reacted to the minister’s claim in his statement, asked Malami to comply with the order of the court and resign voluntarily for exposing the federal government to international embarrassment and ridicule.

He also berated the AGF for lack of adequate knowledge on the provisions of the laws.

The statement read: “Further, the Attorney General of the Federation reference to the charge pending against Onyendu before he left Nigeria in 2017, and the indication that the Federal Government may continue with the charge really shows his total disconnect with the law, with greatest respect to his office.

READ ALSO: Kanu discharged, not acquitted by Appeal Court – Malami

“It is to be noted that the remaining seven charges that was struck out by the Court of Appeal after it allowed the appeal on the ground that the Federal High Court has no jurisdiction to try onyendu Mazi Nnamdi Kanu is the same charge(with the same charge Number – to wit: FRN vs Nnamdi Kanu, Charge No: FHC/ABJ/CR/383/2015, that has been pending against Onyendu Mazi Nnamdi Kanu at the Federal High Court since 2015.

“The prosecution has amended this charge about 7 times. It is the same charge that was amended to include other counts that brought the counts to seven and then to 15. The Federal High Court struck out eight counts and retained seven.

“On appeal, the Court of Appeal struck out the whole charge and held that the lower court had no jurisdiction to try Onyendu Mazi Nnamdi Kanu. That being so, that charge that has been pending against MNK since 2015 and containing counts of alleged offences committed by him before he escaped from being killed in Nigeria in 2017 no longer exists. It has been struck out.

“There is therefore no existing charge on the basis of which the Federal High Court can proceed and try Onyendu. Accordingly, as it stands today, there is no criminal charge pending against Onyendu Mazi Nnamdi Kanu.

“The declaration by the Court of Appeal that the Federal High Court has no jurisdiction to try Onyendu MAZI Nnamdi Kanu because of the illegality of his abduction and extraordinary rendition to Nigeria is an all pervading instrumentality that effectively bars any indictment of Onyendu Mazi Nnamdi Kanu in any court in Nigeria.

“As his forceful abduction in Kenya and rendition to Nigeria violates all known international conventions and protocols to which Nigeria is a state party, no prosecution against him in Nigeria can ever be undertaken. This is because a cause of action cannot arise from a base ground- Ex turpi causa non oritur actio.”

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