- Throws Out FGN’s Charge
The terrorism charge slammed against the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, Nnamdi Kanu, by the Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN), was on Thursday thrown into the air by the Abuja Division of the Court of Appeal.
Specifically, the Court of Appeal discharged and acquitted the IPOB leader of the seven-count charge pending against him before the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja.
In a decision handed down by a three-man panel led by Justice Jummai Hanatu, the Court of Appeal held that it was satisfied that the FGN flagrantly violated the law when it forcefully rendered Kanu from Kenya to the country for the continuation of his trial.
The Appellate Court declared that such extraordinary rendition, without adherence to due process of the law, was a gross violation of all international conventions, protocols, and guidelines that Nigeria is a signatory to, as well as a breach of the Appellant’s fundamental human rights.
The upper court insisted that the FGN failed to refute the allegation that the IPOB leader was in Kenya and that he was abducted and brought back to the country without any extradition proceedings.
The Appeal Court declared that the FG was “ominously silent on the issue” which it described as very pivotal in determining whether the trial court would still have the jurisdiction to continue with the criminal proceeding before it.
According to Justice Jummai Hanatu, “In law, that is a costly failure and such failure is an admittance by the Respondent.
“Where a party fails to controvert a deposition by an opponent, the issue not contested is deemed conceded.”
While adding that the onus was on the FG to prove the legality of the Appellant’s arrest and return from Kenya, the court noted that Nigeria is a signatory to OAU Convention which it ratified on April 28, 2022, as well as the Charter on Human and Peoples Rights, which it said prescribed how a wanted person could be transferred from one country to the other.
Jummai Hanatu declared that any extradition request must be in writing, with a statement indicating offences for which a person is wanted.
The Court of Appeal insisted that the FG’s action tainted the entire proceeding it initiated against Kanu and amounted to “an abuse of criminal prosecution in general”.
“The court will never shy away from calling the Executive to order when it tilts towards Executive recklessness”, the Appellate court held, even as it accused FG of engaging in “serious abuse of power.”
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