The Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, has faulted the Supreme Court of Nigeria on the reversal of the discharge of Biafra nation agitator, Nnamdi Kanu, from alleged terrorism charges brought against him by the federal government.
The Court of Appeal had, in a unanimous judgment of three Justices, dismissed the terrorism case against Kanu and discharged him on the grounds that Nigeria flouted all known local and international laws in the ways and manner the IPOB leader was abducted in Kenya and brought to the country.
However, based on the appeal by the federal government against the Appeal Court ruling, the Supreme Court, in its own judgment, held that the manner Kanu was brought back to the country should not be an issue, set aside the decision of the Court of Appeal, and ordered the continuation of Kanu’s trial.
In a statement on Friday, IPOB expressed displeasure with the Supreme Court decision on the grounds that its judgment had reduced Nigeria’s judiciary to an arm of executive lawlessness.
The statement was signed by Barrister Onyedikachi Ifedi, Directorate of Legal Affairs & Global Communications, Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).
It read in part: “We condemn in the strongest possible terms the Supreme Court of Nigeria’s grotesque betrayal of the Constitution in FRN vs. Nnamdi Kanu.
“By overturning a lawful discharge grounded in state-sponsored kidnapping, the Court has illegally derogated from non-derogable Chapter IV rights, annulled the constitutional prohibition against double jeopardy, and reduced Nigeria’s judiciary to an arm of executive lawlessness.
“The Supreme Court’s judgment is a textbook assault on constitutional democracy because Section 45(2) of the Constitution explicitly forbids any derogation from fair hearing rights (Section 36(1)).
“The Court’s invented ‘national security’ exception is a fraudulent rewrite of the supreme law. Section 36(9) prohibits retrial after acquittal.
“The Court of Appeal’s discharge order was a final acquittal—yet the Supreme Court resurrected dead charges in service of state impunity.
“Where a defendant is procured through state abduction, courts lack jurisdiction. The Supreme Court’s failure to void proceedings rewards kidnapping as state policy.
“Nigeria’s judiciary now stands isolated among civilized nations. The judgment’s ‘national security’ justification is legally dead on arrival.
“The Supreme Court has no power to create imaginary exceptions. National security cannot be built on state terrorism. A bench that licenses abduction as a prosecutorial tool commits judicial malpractice.
“The ruling violates Nigeria’s treaty obligations under the ICCPR (Article 14) and African Charter (Article 7).
“The Supreme Court has shredded Nigeria’s social contract. When the highest court licenses state abduction, suspends non-derogable rights, and voids double jeopardy, it commits constitutional hara-kiri.
“This judgment is not law; it is tyranny disguised as jurisprudence.
“We call on the global community to treat Nigeria with care until Mazi Nnamdi Kanu is freed and the Constitution restored.
“We declare the Supreme Court’s judgment a nullity and demand the immediate release of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, victim of state kidnapping and judicial collusion.”
Among others, IPOB demanded the reversal of the Supreme Court judgment and for the International Criminal Court to open an inquiry into Nigerian officials for crimes against humanity on abduction and denial of fair trial, and sanction them accordingly.
