MARCH 21 , 2023 | EASTERN PILOT Report By: Nnamdi Ojiego | Following the continued detention of the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafr...
MARCH 21 , 2023 | EASTERN PILOT
Report By: Nnamdi Ojiego |
Following the continued detention of the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, despite several court judgments for his unconditional release, human rights advocate, Mikar Ojokoro, has berated the Supreme Court justices for keeping sealed lips in the face of brazen lawlessness and illegality by the Federal Government. Recall that the Court of Appeal as well as the UN Group on arbitrary detention have ordered the unconditional release of the IPOB leader.
However, in what the human rights community has described as flagrant disregard and disobedience to the rule of law and court orders, the government has continued to hold Kanu, who according to his lawyers, is now very sick and physically frail because of the torture he is being subjected to in the unlawful detention. Ojokoro wondered how the apex court justices feel seeing a human being kept in unlawful and illegal detention and under severe torture after lower courts have respectively discharged and acquitted such a person.
He said: “How do you feel that an innocent man was kidnapped in a foreign land by the agents of the government, brought to Nigeria, and locked away in detention for over one year? In the last 19 months, Kanu has remained locked up and tortured in spite of several judicial pronouncements that he should be released unconditionally. However, the government in rascal disobedience to the rule of law has continued to hold Kanu, who is now very sick and physically frail because of the torture he is being subjected to in the illegal, unconstitutional, and unlawful detention.
“Kanu has committed no crime known in law. The case about Kanu’s human rights at the Supreme Court is more than his personal human rights; it is also about the human rights of millions of those he represents.” Ojokoro lamented the Supreme Court justices can quickly hear elections and other political matters in Nigeria, however, the matter regarding Kanu’s release as ordered by the Appeal Court has been with the apex court for over 100 days, and the justices have not deemed it right to hear the matter before them.
“Justice delayed, in this context, has been clearly demonstrated as justice denied in its crudest manner. The Biafrans, and in particular, the Igbo are worried, wondering if the justices have come again to collude with the government. I urge the Supreme Court justices to remember that they all are somebody’s son, brother, husband, uncle, father, leader, and loved ones to people.
“Beyond Kanu’s immediate young family, comprising two children and a wife, Kanu is all of these to the Igbo race and Biafra as a whole. How do the Supreme Court justices and their loved ones feel when they have mistreated the way and manner Kanu is being tortured by the APC-led government? Remember you all have children and relatives too. I leave this to your conscience”, he stated.
Ojokoro is specifically pricking the consciences of Olukayode Ariwoola, Musa Datijo Muhammad, Kudirat Kekere-Ekun, Chima Centus Nweze, Amina Augie, Uwani Musa Abba Aji, John Inyang Okoro, and Lawal Garba, to rise up to their mandate and ensure that the judiciary which is allegedly acclaimed to be the last hope of common man does not continue to be an object of local and international ridicule.
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