Tony Okafor, Awka
The Anambra State Governor , Prof Chukwuma Soludo, has called for the immediate and unconditional release of the leaders of the Indigenous People of Biafra ( IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu .
Kanu has been in detention at the custody of the Department of State Service( DSS) since 2021.
But during the kickoff of the 2023 All Progressives Grand Alliance
( APGA)campaigns in Awka, the Anambra State capital on Saturday, Soludo specifically appealed to the Federal Government to release Nnamdi Kanu unconditionally, asserting that if the FG could not release Kanu unconditionally, the separatist leader should be released to him( Soludo), vouching to stand surety for him( Kanu)
He said ,”I am making a passionate appeal to the Federal Government to release Mazi Nnamdi Kanu unconditionally. If he cannot be released unconditionally, I want him bereleased to me and I will stand surety for him”
“We need Nnamdi Kanu in the roundtable conversation to discuss the insecurity in the South-East. We must end insecurity in the South-East and we need Nnamdi Kanu to be around.”
Soludo promised to cater for Kanu if released to him , vouching to bring him to the authorities any time he would be required.
Kanu was first arraigned on December 23, 2015, and was later granted bail on April 25, 2017.
He fled the country in September 2017 after an invasion of his home by the military in Afara-Ukwu, near Umuahia, Abia State.
He was re-arrested and brought back to Nigeria to face his trial, bordering on terrorism and treason.
But Kanu had in an appeal dated April 29 and marked CA/ABJ/CR/625/2022 applied to be discharged and acquitted.
The Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory, late last year upheld Kanu’s and discharged and acquitted him.
The Court of Appeal declared as illegal and unlawful the abduction of Kanu from Kenya to Nigeria and quashed the entire terrorism charges brought against him by the Federal Government.
The Appellate Court held that the Federal Government breached all local and international laws in the forceful rendition of Kanu to Nigeria thereby making the terrorism charges against him incompetent and unlawful.
The Appeal Court in a judgment by Justice Oludotun Adebola voided and set aside the charges by the Federal Government against Kanu.The Appellate Court proceeded to discharge Kanu from the alleged offences.
The Appeal Court further held that the failure of the Federal Government to disclose where and when the alleged offences were committed was also fatal to the terrorism charges and made them liable to dismissal.
But the Federal Government in its grounds of appeal to the Supreme Court argued, among others, that the Court of Appeal erred when it faulted the manner by which Kanu was brought back to face trial after he jumped bail and fled the country.
The FG contended that the Court of Appeal erred when it struck out the pending charge against Kanu on the ground that the trial court no longer possessed the requisite jurisdiction to continue the trial because of the manner by which Kanu was returned to the country after allegedly jumping bail.
