IPOB PRESS RELEASE, February 21, 2023
We, the global Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) movement and family, led by the great liberator of our time, Mazi Nnamdi Okwuchukwu KANU, are deeply concerned about the lack of progress in the case before the Supreme Court of Nigeria regarding Onyendu Mazi Nnamdi Kanu’s continued unlawful detention in DSS custody.
The Nigerian Supreme Court’s inability, neglect, failure, or refusal to set a date for deciding Mazi Nnamdi Okwuchukwu KANU’s appeal to the Extraordinary Rendition and Unlawful Imprisonment for more than three months now raises doubts about whether the Nigerian Supreme Court has become a willing instrument in the hands of the Nigerian Government to delay Mazi Nnamdi Kanu and implicitly deny him justice.
It is important to keep in mind that on October 13, 2022, the Nigerian Court of Appeal in Abuja acquitted Mazi Nnamdi Kanu of all criminal charges brought against him by the Nigerian government in the Federal High Court in Abuja and prohibited the Nigerian government from further prosecuting him in any Nigerian court. The Federal Government of Nigeria appealed to the Supreme Court of Nigeria rather than following the instructions of the Nigerian Court of Appeal.
Despite the fact that Mazi Nnamdi Kanu’s continued unlawful detention at the Nigerian Gestapo Secret Police, the DSS, constitutes a flagrant violation of his fundamental human rights, the Supreme Court has refused to set a date for hearing the appeal before it in what appears to be an agreement between the Federal Government of Nigeria and the Supreme Court to continue Mazi Nnamdi Kanu’s unlawful detention. In addition, the Supreme Court of Nigeria does not appear to be sufficiently concerned about Mazi Nnamdi Kanu’s deteriorating health while detained, nor does it appear to be a compelling reason to expedite the hearing on this case, which has assumed international significance.
By continuing to unlawfully confine Mazi Nnamdi Kanu in the DSS solitary confinement as it is now, the Federal Government of Nigeria is disobeying the orders of its own court.
The Supreme Court of Nigeria’s unusual and troubling behavior raises concerns that the Court is either conspiring with the Nigerian Federal Government to continue Mazi Nnamdi Kanu’s illegal detention in violation of the Nigeria Court of Appeal’s orders, or that the Supreme Court has been intimidated into denying justice to an innocent man.
IPOB has seen that the Nigerian legal executive being the third arm of government isn’t enough and regorously practicing its Sacred order in the agreement of Equity to the everyday person, who admire the Legal executive as their last expectation.
The Biafran people and the discerning public can only conclude that the Nigerian Supreme Court is being controlled by forces outside of the Judiciary because of the Supreme Court’s delay in hearing Mazi Nnamdi Kanu’s case and its concurrent actions on other less important cases before it, such as the Old Naira Note case, which the Supreme Court heard ex parte and heard the substantive matter within a week or so.
In Nigeria, the judiciary is an equal and independent branch of government that neither the Executive nor the Legislative branches should be in charge of. As a result, the fact that the Supreme Court of Nigeria has delayed or refused to act on Mazi Nnamdi Kanu’s case implies that the Court’s administrators are following orders from the Presidency and its political cronies before delivering justice to Nigerians.
It is instructive to note that the same Nigerian Supreme Court that is delaying the case of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, has presided over cases that are currently threatening the peace and security of South-Eastern Nigeria. In particular, the High Court touched off the consuming fire of exemption, obliteration of properties and vocation of residents, consuming of Business sectors, frailty of the greatest request, and mass homicide in Imo State through the burden of Trust Uzodinma as a Legislative head of Imo State.
Hope Uzodinma was utterly rejected by the people and voters of Imo, and as a result, Mr. Uzodinma finished a distant fourth in the state’s governorship polls. However, the Supreme Court of Nigeria made Hope Uzodinma the Governor of Imo State by accepting nearly 400,000 fabricated, forged, and fraudulent ballots that the electoral umpire, INEC, confirmed were not cast during the elections it conducted. With their magical abracadabra, the Supreme Court of Nigeria made Hope Uzodinma the Governor of Imo State.
In a similar vein, the Supreme Court presided over the Ahmed Lawan case, in which the same Supreme Court Justices declared the current Senate President, who had never participated in the APC primary elections, to be an APC senatorial candidate for his constituency. Recently, the Supreme Court allowed itself to assume initial jurisdiction in a matter that was supposed to fall under the jurisdiction of the Federal High Court of Nigeria, which resulted in national confusion regarding the currency swap policy of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). The High Court Initiative and Organization have been tricked by unnecessary obstruction, conceivable extortion and plausible degenerate instigations by the Chief arm of government.
Based on what is going on with our leader’s case, our assertions suggest that the Nigerian government now governs the country in the same manner as the Taliban in Afghanistan, Idi Amin in Uganda, and Hitler in Germany, where tyrants hold every branch of government hostage.
We can no longer assert that the courts are a common man’s only hope. Due to the flagrant disobedience of the lawless Nigerian Federal Government to court orders and the inability of the Nigerian Judiciary to ensure that court orders are obeyed by the Government and its officials, this slogan is now history in Nigeria.
We are watching the Supreme Court of Nigeria, which is also a constitutional court, try to restore its tarnished image in the case of Mazi Nnamdi KANU’s extraordinary rendition. The Court’s leadership and administration have been delaying the appeal for more than three months now. A discharged and acquitted innocent man has been held in illegal custody in poor health for more than three months while the Supreme Court ignores him!
The Supreme Court of Nigeria has the option of either legitimizing, legalizing, and institutionalizing extraordinary rendition—which is a crime on a global scale—or upholding the rule of law by putting an end to the lawless and careless Executive branch of the government, which is led by corrupt political cabals. Both of these options are available to the court.
The members of the bench have the opportunity to either further sink Nigeria’s battered image into the pit of infamy and disrepute or to quickly administer justice that is universally accepted, proving to the world that Nigeria is not a pariah state. Nigeria is being observed through the prism of a failed state by the entire world and the international community.
The case of Mazi Nnamdi KANU has brought into question the bravery and independence of the judiciary, particularly the Supreme Court, as well as the constitutionality of Nigeria and its very foundation.
MEMORIAL AND PUBLICITY SECRETARY FOR IPOB, COMRADE EMMA POWERFUL