By our reporter
Detained leader of Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, on Saturday, February 15, claimed that the Federal Government (FG) is deliberately shielding his case in court “from judges and justices that are deemed to be committed to justice even when it means that the FG must lose.”
He said there exist judges in the country who can give “even-handed justice”, alleging that government did not want him to appear before such.
In an open letter, Kanu, therefore, vowed to remain in detention until an impartial judge is found who has jurisdiction and “constitutional muster” to handle his case, insisting that “not now,not ever” would he appear before a judge who lacked necessary judicial and constitutional backing to try him.
He detailed his judicial battles with the FG since he was extraordinarily renditioned from Kenya to Nigeria in 2021, and consequently charged with several criminal offences, pointing out that he had won most of the cases against him.
Kanu spoke in the light of his appearance on Monday, February 10, 2025, in the Federal High Court, Abuja, presided by Justice Binta Murtala Nyako, where he refused to undergo fresh trial,for terrorism.
At that court session, legal sparks flew between Kanu, on the one hand, the judge and the FG-hired private prosecutor, Chief Adegboyega Solomon Awomolo, SAN, on the other, during which the IPOB leader challenged the jurisdiction of Justice Nyako to re-try him, having recused herself from his case earlier on.
Recusal means the withdrawal of a judge, prosecutor, or juror from a case on the grounds that they are unqualified to perform legal duties because of a possible conflict of interest or lack of impartiality.
Details of his open letter go thus: “I have been compelled by the events of the past few days to take the unusual step of writing this Open Letter for the singular purpose of calling the attention of the general public to the serial executive and judicial fraud being perpetrated against me since my extraordinary rendition in 2021. The details are as follows:
“In a judgment entered on 1st March 2017, the Federal High Court Abuja ruled that the ‘IPOB is not an unlawful group.’ At the time, it received widespread publicity which can be verified.
“This landmark ruling (made by the court before it turned unjust) emanated in a criminal proceeding that required ‘proof beyond reasonable doubt’ and in which the Federal Government and my humble self presented our respective cases.
“Alas! Instead of the Federal Government to go on appeal as the law mandated (if they are dissatisfied with the judgment), the former Attorney-General (Abubakar Malami) went behind closed doors with a letter signed by late Abba Kyari and got IPOB proscribed/tagged a terrorist group in an ex parte proceeding conducted without notice to me or to the IPOB.
“This abominable incident was the earliest sign yet that the government and its judiciary have struck an unholy and fraudulent alliance to deny me my rights and thereby imperil the lives and liberty of millions who identify with IPOB.
“On 26th October 2022, a Federal High Court declared my extraordinary rendition and detention as unconstitutional, stating that: ‘the manner of arrest and detention of the Applicant (Mazi Nnamdi Kanu) in Kenya, his continued detention in Abuja, his subjection to physical and mental trauma by the Respondents, the inhuman and degrading treatment meted out to the Applicant amounts to a brazen violation of the Applicant’s fundamental right to dignity of his person and threat to life under Section 34 (1)(a) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended).’
“The Court further ordered the Federal Government to apologize to me and pay me compensation.
“In a responsible and well-ordered society, run by a responsible government, this judgment is sufficient to have ended my lengthy detention and encouraged the Federal Government to constructively engage me on the issue of the self-determination agitation that triggered this whole saga.
“Pedal back to 13th October 2022 when the Court of Appeal held that: ‘The Courts must never shy away from calling the executive to order when they resort to acts of “executive lawlessness.” The duty of the Courts is to maintain a balance between ensuring that law and order is obeyed and the protection of the individual from oppressive actions by the executive.
” ‘By the forcible abduction and extraordinary rendition of the Appellant (Mazi Nnamdi Kanu) from Kenya to this country on the 27th day of June 2021, in violation of international and state laws, the lower Court or indeed any Court in this country is divested of jurisdiction to entertain charges against the Appellant.’
“Despite the clarity of this judgment and its comportment with reason, the Federal Government refused to release me from detention while it went behind closed doors and connived with three other justices of the Court of Appeal who fraudulently and swiftly sat on appeal over the judgment and practically destroyed it by issuing what they termed ‘a stay of execution.’
“One may then ask: Is it not abominable for a court to stay a judgment the government already disobeyed? In a plethora of cases, the Supreme Court has held that anybody who disobeys a related court order cannot be given any judicial relief until such order is obeyed. This is sound reasoning that applies to everybody but is fraudulently overlooked when it comes to my case.
“Fast forward to 15th December 2023 when the Supreme Court sent back my case to the Federal High Court for trial. For avoidance of doubt, that was not the only decision the Supreme Court made.
“It also decided that my bail should not have been revoked and it went on to state clearly that the judge (Justice Binta Nyako) exhibited significant and unacceptable bias by revoking my bail.
“In a sane society, one would expect that when the High Court received my case from the Supreme Court and hankered down for trial, it was also duty-bound to restore my bail in line with the pronouncement of the apex court. But that did not happen.
“Why? Well, your guess is as good as mine and that is: the Court connived with the Federal Government to continue my detention in violation of Section 287 of the Nigerian Constitution while they plotted to railroad me through an unfair trial that already has a predetermined verdict.
“To conclude this Open Letter, let me make it clear that it should in no way be construed to mean that there are no decent judges in Nigeria that can be trusted to deliver even-handed justice in my case. That is not the issue.
“Instead, the issue is that my case is deliberately being shielded from judges and justices that are deemed to be committed to doing justice even when it means that the Federal Government must lose.
“Be that as it may, if it will take the rest of my life in detention to produce me before a proper and impartial court, so be it.
“But let me say this for the world to know: I will not succumb to any trial conducted by any judge or court whose jurisdiction does not pass constitutional muster. Not now, not ever.”
Kanu’s matter before Justice Nyako has been a yo-yo.
Kanu had in 2024 challenged Nyako to step down from his trial because he had no confidence in her judgment.
To this, the judge recused herself from the case.
However, Chief Judge (CJ) of the Federal High Court, Justice John Tsoho, after sometime, returned the file to her, directing Justice Nyako to continue with the matter –a process Kanu strongly and openly disagreed with in court on Monday, saying it violated the gazetted rules/laws of the Federal High Court.
He argued that by her recusal, Nyako had permanently lost jurisdiction to hear his case, with Nyako consequently adjourning the matter indefinitely.
