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From Okey Sampson, Umuahia
Special Counsel to Nnamdi Kanu and the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Aloy Ejimakor has accused Asari Dokubo of defaming the character of his client.
Dokubo had during a press briefing in Abuja last week, called on the Federal Government not to release Kanu from detention as that would amount to rewarding criminality.
In a statement, Ejimakor said Dokubo’s statement was defamatory of the fine character, reputation and international standing of Nnamdi Kanu.
Ejimakor views Dokubo’s state to also be in clear contempt of the October 2022 judgment of the Federal High Court, Umuahia which had determined Nnamdi Kanu’s extraordinary rendition and detention to be unconstitutional and a brazen violation of his fundamental rights.
The statement read in part, “The attention of the undersigned Counsel to Mazi Nnamdi Kanu has been drawn to the widely published call by Alhaji Asari Ediabali Dokubo on President Ahmed Bola Tinubu not to release Mazi Nnamdi Kanu.
“In most of the publications, Dokubo was credibly quoted as saying that ‘His (Nnamdi Kanu’s) release would fuel impunity; during EndSars, Nnamdi Kanu was walking free. What did he do? He poured petrol on the flames of EndSars. Now, he has been caught. What of the people who have died? This is a criminal. He should face the law. Releasing Nnamdi Kanu is rewarding criminality and rewarding gruesome murder of innocent people. He should face the law for the actions and instigations he has carried out’.
“Our considered response to this highly inflammatory statement by Alhaji Dokubo is as follows:
“First, Dokubo’s statement is defamatory of the fine character, reputation and international standing of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu; and it is also in clear contempt of the October 2022 judgment of the Federal High Court, Umuahia which had determined Nnamdi Kanu’s extraordinary rendition and detention to be unconstitutional and a brazen violation of his fundamental rights.
“Second, Dokubo should be aware that the matter of Nnamdi Kanu has triggered the international legal order, as there are two subsisting international tribunal decisions in his favor. Whilst one decision issued from the United Nations, the other issued from a continental human rights tribunal to which Nigeria is subject by treaty.
“Third, the EndSARS protest Dokubo blamed solely on Nnamdi Kanu was an amorphous mass movement of Nigerian youths that had no identifiable leaders and its grave fallouts led to the constitution of many commissions of inquiry, none of which indicted Nnamdi Kanu, either as a participant or a leader.
“Fourth, Dokubo should be well-advised that the conduct that led to Nnamdi Kanu’s extraordinary rendition, detention and trial is called ‘self determination’ which has been held by a competent Nigerian court – in the celebrated case of Sunday Igboho – to be legal and not criminal. Dokubo has, himself, once agitated for self determination by demanding the creation of Niger Delta Republic, which led to his long incarceration in the recent past.
“Thus, by calling on President Tinubu not to release Nnamdi Kanu, Dokubo has unwittingly delegitimized the generous amnesty granted him by late President Yar’Adua, affirmed and honored by former Presidents Jonathan and Buhari but yet to be affirmed and honored by President Tinubu.
“Finally, Dokubo should be minded that the matter of Nnamdi Kanu, even though capable of being addressed politically by President Tinubu, now lies before several courts of Nigeria, Kenya, Britain and two international tribunals, before whom several Lawyers are separately leading the legal efforts to undo the crushing injustice being levied against Mazi Nnamdi Kanu and members of Indigenous People of Biafra”.
Ejimakor made it clear that ending Nnamdi Kanu’s extant extrajudicial detention was capable of springing from a sound political decision of the President as Nnamdi Kanu committed no crime.
This is even as the counsel said his client’s detention could end the implementation of any of the victories he has garnered in Nigerian courts and the international community.
