Detained leader of proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, has called on Igbo political leaders to desist from begging the Nigerian government to release him as he did not commit any crime that warranted his arrest and detention in the first place.
Kanu’s call came on the heels of appeals by prominent Igbo politicians and leaders like Anambra State governor, Charles Soludo, Senator Orji Uzor Kalu, Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Ben Kalu, presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Peter Obi, among others, who have made appeals to President Bola Tinubu to release the IPOB leader.
But in a statement released on Saturday by his Special Counsel, Aloy Ejimakor, Kanu said he did not send anybody to beg the government for his release.
The statement clarified that Kanu’s release is not a matter of mercy or pardon, but rather a matter of upholding the rule of law.
The statement noted that the Federal High Court had already declared Kanu’s detention was unconstitutional and that international tribunal decisions had also deemed his detention as unlawful, therefore his release should be a straightforward matter of complying with the law instead of the politicians begging for it.
Kanu also emphasized that he had committed no crime and that his detention was a result of the Nigerian government’s attempts to criminalise his right to self-determination.
In the statement titled “Upholding the Rule of Law is more important to me than anything else,” Ejimakor said:
“During my visitation with Onyendu Mazi Nnamdi Kanu yesterday, he made it abundantly clear that while he is deeply appreciative of the efforts and the widespread calls being made by well-meaning individuals and groups to secure his release, he however instructed his legal team to issue the following clarifications:
1. The matter of releasing Mazi Nnamdi Kanu is not an act of mercy, pardon, executive clemency or even amnesty.
Instead, it should be an act of simply complying with the subsisting Federal High Court judgment that declared his detention as unconstitutional or even the extant international tribunal decisions that separately declared his detention as unlawful.
Alternatively, the decision to free him from detention and discontinue his infamous prosecution can be made by simply resorting to the constitutional provisions that empower the Attorney-General of the Federation (on the directives of the President) to discontinue any prosecution.
2. Onyendu Mazi Nnamdi Kanu is adamant that nobody should plead or beg anybody on his behalf because he has committed no crime.
Self determination which is the real issue that got twisted to suddenly become a high crime is an inalienable right guaranteed under the laws of Nigeria, the United Nations, the United Kingdom and Kenya.
Thus, the perverse and unlawful criminalisation of his exercise of this right should not unwittingly be encouraged through some misguided appeals for pardon, clemency or mercy. Thus, releasing Mazi Nnamdi Kanu is not an act of mercy or pardon but an act of abiding by rule of law.
3. In as much as those calling for his release are sincere, their calls for pardon or clemency may be misconstrued as a green light to the executive branch or even the courts to violate the rule of law by continuing to subject Mazi Nnamdi Kanu to a prosecution or trial that does not comport with the tenets of the Constitution and Nigeria’s treaty obligations.
4. Instead of begging, those desiring his release should emulate the language and tact used by Afenifere, Ohaneze, World Igbo Congress (WIC), ranking members of the National Assembly, American Military Veterans of Igbo Descent (AVID), Ambassadors for Self Determination (based in America), the international community and a host of others who have made it clear that Mazi Nnamdi Kanu deserves to be released because he has committed no offence known to law. If truth be told, it is Nigeria’s executive branch which extraordinarily renditioned Mazi Nnamdi Kanu that should show contrition for resorting to extraordinary rendition which is a State crime under international law and and the common law.
If any begging must be done, it should be directed to the Courts to conduct his cases and that of IPOB with the utmost impartiality and adherence to rule of law, equity and good conscience.
5. Most importantly, Onyendu Mazi Nnamdi Kanu sincerely thanks everyone working assiduously towards the restoration of security, tranquility and good order in his beloved Igboland.”
