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The Federal Government of Nigeria has been informed by the Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) that disregarding the binding decision of the Court of Appeal regarding Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), and proceeding to appeal the decision at the Supreme Court constitutes legal sacrilege.
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The organization went on to say that the federal government encouraged perfidy, impunity, and constitutional violations.
According to HURIWA, the Federal Government’s disobedience to the Appellate Court’s conclusive ruling demonstrates a deep-seated animosity toward the Igbo ethnic nationality.
The rights group claimed that this is because the President, despite being aware of the potentially explosive security implications of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu’s ongoing illegal detention, refused to back down and deliberately damned the consequences, hoping that unrest or riotous protests would break out in the South East so soldiers would be called up to have a fantastic justification to murder Igbo youths.
On Thursday of last week, the Court of Appeal in Abuja ordered Mr. Kanu’s release from the State Security Service’s custody after the government’s terrorism allegations against him were dismissed (SSS).
According to the ruling, Mr. Kanu was “extra-ordinarily renditioned” to Nigeria, which was against both the country’s extradition treaty and Mr. Kanu’s fundamental human rights.
However, the Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, contended that the Court of Appeal simply cleared Mr. Kanu of all charges and not acquitted him in a statement released late on Thursday by his spokesperson, Umar Gwandu. He said that notwithstanding the court’s decision, the government will not free Mr. Kanu.
HURIWA regretted that, despite this, the Federal Government, led by President Buhari, petitioned the Supreme Court of Nigeria to invalidate the verdict and suspend the execution of the Appeal Court’s ruling.
However, the group claimed in a statement issued by its national coordinator, Emmanuel Onwubiko, that the government of President Buhari is hypocritical because it flagrantly disregarded a binding Appeal Court ruling and entered the equity system with dirty hands by failing to follow the ruling before appealing.
The same President Buhari, according to HURIWA, had argued through the justice ministry in another case at the National Industrial Court that it filed and won against the Academic Staff Union of Universities, but argued that ASUU couldn’t institute any application for a stay of execution or appeal the ruling unless it first respects the decision of the Court ordering the then-striking Unionists to resume their duties.
Therefore, the rights organization questioned how such a roguish administration with two morally incompatible standards could respect a judgment before an appeal is currently before the supreme court and Mazi Nnamdi Kanu be denied his constitutionally guaranteed fundamental freedoms as restored by the Court of Appeal. According to HURIWA, the federal government has damaged Nigeria’s reputation both domestically and internationally with this act of infamy.
