The Igbo socio-cultural organisation, Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide Youth Wing, has described the continued trial of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) by the Nigerian Government, as a collective trial of the people of southeastern Nigeria (Ndigbo).
The organisation made the assertion in a statement signed and made available to journalists in Awka on Tuesday by its National Publicity Secretary, Mazi Chika Art Adiele, while reacting to the jurisdiction of Kanu’s alleged terrorism case when he reappeared before Justice Binta Nyako of the Federal High Court Abuja for the resumed hearing of the IPOB leader’s protracted case.
It was gathered that despite Kanu’s insistence that Justice Nyako has no jurisdiction over his case, the judge adjourned the matter indefinitely.
Recall that Kanu was brought into Nigeria in June 2021 and has since been detained and tried for alleged terrorism. His trial was stalled after Justice Nyako recused herself from the case following an oral application by the defendant on 24 September 2024.
Reacting further, the organisation said, “Our attention was yet again drawn over another charade at the instance of one Hon. Justice Binta Nyako, who to all intents and purposes is bent on subjugating Mazi Nnamdi Kanu to perpetual trial without any form of justice.
“It is an absurdity that the rule of law is punctured in the most brazen manner by this dishonourable judge who obviously is playing a prepared script.
“As a people, we strongly feel that Justice Binta Nyako, by her actions and inactions, has deployed warped logic to obfuscate the irrefutable fact that Mazi Nnamdi Kanu is a full-blooded citizen of Nigeria and his rights are inalienable.
“We cannot fathom why she is deliberately persecuting Mazi Nnamdi Kanu when the facts are before the law, thereby deploying subterfuge, self-hatred, and destructive tendencies just to feed her ego.
“However, we are here to remind her that justice delayed is justice denied and so we demand that Mazi Nnamdi Kanu is released without further delay and full compensation paid to him.
“Anything short of this will leave us in the belief that this is a collective trial of Ndigbo.
Igbo youths are a peace-loving people and Justice Binta Nyako must not take our quest for the rule of law as a sign of weakness. Let justice prevail!”, the statement concluded.
