From David Onwuchekwa, Nnewi
Aloy Ejimakor, special counsel to the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, has declared the position of the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF), Abubakar Malami on the Court of Appeal judgment regarding Kanu as flatly wrong and perversion of justice.
Ejimakor argued that if the Federal Government refused or stalled Kanu’s release solely because it desired to levy further on new charges, that it would amount to a burgeoning holding charge, which he noted was impermissible in Nigeria’s jurisprudence.
“Further, no new charges can stick against Kanu because in the present circumstance, the extraordinary rendition is an abiding factor that has created a permanent barrier to his prosecution.
“Keep in mind that the extant trial of Kanu could never have proceeded had he not been illegally renditioned. So, it is not legally possible to lose jurisdiction in the extant charges and at once obtain jurisdiction in the next round of charges.
“The judgment of the Court of Appeal has, therefore, grandfathered a continuing lack of prosecutorial jurisdiction that will, in the interim, be very hard to overcome.
“Thus, before the levying of any new charge can have a toga of legality or chances of conferring prosecutorial jurisdiction, Kanu has to be released first. Anything to the contrary will be nugatory,” he noted.