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Chief Chekwas Okorie, convener/national chairman, Igbo Agenda Dialogue (IAD), has described the incarceration of Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the Independent Peoples of Biafra (IPOB) in Sokoto Prison, as provocative, ominous and fraught with avoidable danger.
The Federal High Court in Abuja on Thursday convicted Kanu on all seven counts of terrorism offences. The judge, Justice James Omotosho, held that the evidence of the prosecution was uncontroverted, Kanu, having failed to open his defence.
The judge dismissed Kanu’s argument that the charges against him were invalid because they were based on the repealed Terrorism Prevention Act 2013. He said the defendant did not present any evidence in his rebuttal of the charge. According to him, this court will rely on the uncontroverted evidence of the prosecution.
In a statement he personally signed, yesterday, Okorie appealed to the Igbo community in Sokoto State to immediately rise to the Igbo spirit of onye aghala nwanneya (Be your brother’s keeper) and quickly organise to provide our son, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, all the necessary succour and comfort the Nigerian authorities will allow. “In view of his health condition, he should be provided the meals prescribed by his doctors. He must not be lonely during his visiting days.
Mazi Nnamdi Kanu is the symbol of the Igbo dilemma in Nigeria. He is carrying the Igbo cross at this time.
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“I appeal to our angry youths in the name of God not to fall for the script of believing that our dilemma is from within. We must not turn the sod or the barrel of the gun against ourselves. This time calls for Igbo unity, wisdom and prayers.
Part of the statement read: “Immediately upon the verdict of Hon. Justice Omotosho’s judgment sentencing Mazi Nnamdi Kanu to a life imprisonment I expressed my sadness and disappointment. I was clear on the ground that the trial and judgment were fundamentally flawed.
“The extraordinary rendition of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu from Kenya was akin to state sponsored terrorism which in itself is a criminal act. Any trial predicated on a criminal act is flawed from its foundation. In spite of the informed advice and intervention of well-meaning Nigerians to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to invoke his special presidential dispensation to enter a nolle prosequi in the matter, the government adamantly proceeded with it and eventually delivered a scripted judgment.
“Many Igbo leaders, including those who hold prominent positions in the APC government, have been painstakingly appealing to highly incensed and angry Ndigbo, especially the youths, to remain calm in the hope that President Tinubu will rise to the moment and calm the tension among Ndigbo in Nigeria and in the diaspora by the prompt intervention of granting Mazi Nnamdi Kanu freedom. Unfortunately, we received the shocking news that Mazi Nnamdi Kanu has been sent to a Sokoto prison with the clear intention to keep him out of easy access by his family, friends, and sympathizers.
“Many world leaders are calling out the Nigerian government on this travesty of justice. The global rating of Nigeria’s human rights profile is at an all-time low. It is not late in the day for President Tinubu to grant Mazi Nnamdi Kanu freedom. Those who are urging him to act differently will be the first to disown him when things get out of hand.”
