Eze Kanayo Chukwumezie, the national chairman of the Grassroots Initiative Party (GRIP), weekend, expressed doubts of fairness in the judicial trial of the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu.
President Muhammadu Buhari had during a programme on Channels TV stated that rather than his earlier promise of political solutions to Kanu’s travails, which he made when he hosted Igbo leaders, the IPOB leader would be subjected to the judiciary processes.
Kanu has been in the custody of the Department of State Security since August last year. He was arrested and brought into Nigeria from Kenya in a style described by his legal team as a violation of his fundamental human rights, having travelled to Kenya as a British citizen. He is facing charges on treason, jumping bail and running a proscribed group.
Chukwumezie, in a reaction, said, “If only the judiciary is fully independent in this country, then I will have something to say about the president’s insistence on judicial trial for Nnamdi Kanu. We all know that when it comes to cases, his government dictates all the tunes, and of course pays the piper.
“This government also never obeys court orders by courageous judges. So insisting on judicial trial of Mazi Kanu is but a smokescreen.”
Kanu’s special counsel, Barr Alloy Ejimakor, had earlier told our correspondent of the readiness of Kanu’s lawyers to defend him. In his words, “My hope is that the day will come when Buhari will be held to his implied promises to respect any judicial decision on Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, whether it is a bail, a mistrial or outright release from detention.”
