COURTROOM NEWS 12/01/2022
Court To Rule On Nnamdi Kanu’s Fundamental Rights Suit
An Abia State High Court sitting in Umuahia, the state capital, has fixed January 19, 2022 for judgement in a suit seeking to stop the ongoing trial of the leader of the Indigineous People of Biafra (IPOB), Mazi Nnamdi Kanu by the Federal Government.
According to a statement by Kanu’s special counsel, Barr. Aloy Ejimakor, the court presided by Justice Benson Anya fixed the date after concluding hearing on December 10, 2021 in the fundamental rights suit he (Ejimakor) filed on behalf of Kanu and IPOB.
The suit, which started on August 27, 2021, is, among others, seeking an order of injunction restraining the Nigerian government from taking any further step in the prosecution of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu in Charge No: FHC/ABJ/CR/383/2015 (Federal Republic of Nigeria v. Nnamdi Kanu) pursuant to his unlawful his expulsion from Kenya to Nigeria.
The suit is also seeking for an order mandating and compelling the Nigerian government to forthwith release Mazi Nnamdi Kanu from detention and to restore him to his liberty, same being his state of being as of 19th June, 2021; and to thereupon repatriate him to Britain, his country of domicile and citizenship.
Other reliefs are: “an order mandating and compelling the the Nigerian government to issue an official Letter of Apology to Mazi Nnamdi Kanu for the infringement of his fundamental rights and publication of said Letter of Apology in three (3) national dailies.
“A declaration that the military invasion of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu’s home in Abia State in September 2017 by the Nigerian government is illegal, unlawful, unconstitutional and amounts to infringement of his fundamental rights to life, dignity of his person, his personal liberty and fair hearing as guaranteed under the Nigerian Constitution and the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights.
“A declaration that the arrest of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu in Kenya by agents of the Nigerian government without due process of law is arbitrary, illegal, unlawful, unconstitutional and amounts to infringement of his fundamental rights against arbitrary arrest, to his personal liberty and to fair hearing as guaranteed under the Nigerian Constitution and the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights.
“A declaration that the torture and detention of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu in Kenya by agents of the Nigerian government is illegal, unlawful, unconstitutional and amounts to infringement of the his fundamental rights against torture and to fair hearing, as guaranteed under the Nigerian Constitution and the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights.
“A declaration that the expulsion of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu from Kenya to Nigeria by the Nigerian government and his consequent detention and planned prosecution in Charge No: FHC/ABJ/CR/383/2015 (Federal Republic of Nigeria v. Nnamdi Kanu) is illegal, unlawful, unconstitutional and amount to infringement of his fundamental rights against unlawful expulsion and detention, and to fair hearing, as guaranteed under the Nigerian Constitution and the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights”.
