The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has alleged that the Supreme Court is wielding a series of adjournments to subvert justice in the case of its leader, Nnamdi Kanu.
IPOB made this known in a statement by its spokesman, Emma Powerful, on Monday, adding that the delay in Kanu’s case is a rape of democracy and flagrant subversion of the course of justice.
According to the statement, the group said the “continuous adjournments” by the court were orchestrated by the federal government to keep Kanu in the custody of the Department of State Services (DSS).
IPOB disclosed it received information from Kanu’s lead counsel, Mike Ozekhome, SAN, that the court has again cancelled the earlier scheduled hearing on 14 September due to the court’s annual holiday.
The self-determination group argued that the recent adjournment was against the Supreme Court’s rules governing criminal trials.
If the present intention of the apex court is not a rape of democracy and clear subversion of the course of justice, how could they have adjourned to 14 September 2023 without being guided by their diary, which contains the entire schedule of activities and holidays of the Supreme Court for the entire year?” the statement read.
It argued that the stay of execution order in a criminal trial “is both criminal and unconstitutional” alleging that the FG connived with some judicial officers in the Court of Appeal to reverse the court order which earlier freed Kanu.
“The style of successive adjournment basically at the instance of the Federal Government of Nigeria is to justify the illegal detention of our leader, which is clearly an abuse of judicial process.
“Our leader has been in detention for one year since he was discharged by the Court of Appeal. Yet, the government that appealed the decision discharging our leader is not interested in prosecuting the matter because they are aware that they will still lose at the Supreme Court,” IPOB said.
“If the Federal Government of Nigeria is no longer interested in prosecuting their appeal, our leader should be immediately released in line with the order of the penultimate court made on the 13 day of October 2022,” it added.
