Aloy Ejimakor, the Special Counsel to Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), has asserted that his client is a victim of false imprisonment by the Federal Government. Ejimakor made this statement on Thursday, emphasizing that Kanu currently faces no charges before any court. The assertion comes amid ongoing legal proceedings surrounding Kanu's detention.
In a statement he signed, Ejimakor reiterated that Kanu’s release was not an act of mercy.
The statement reads partly: “To be sure, Nnamdi Kanu’s fate does not lie in this appeal alone because the appeal is but one of the several cases that were triggered – municipally and internationally – by the extraordinary rendition, and all the cases are independent, of equal stature and aimed at securing Nnamdi Kanu’s release.
“Therefore, the different moments in time when two of these several cases, in particular – the one initiated at the Federal High Court and the one initiated at the United Nations (both of which have concurrent jurisdiction over the rendition), were determined in favor of Nnamdi Kanu, the narrative that freeing him lies exclusively in the hands of the Supreme Court is fundamentally false. It is also malicious, prejudicial and profoundly injurious to Nnamdi Kanu’s legal interest, especially as it offers the authorities the umbrage and easy political cover to persist in the illegal detention of Nnamdi Kanu.
“Finally, it needs to be emphasized that for the obvious reason that Nnamdi Kanu is neither currently facing any trial, nor does he have any charges standing against him, his detention is – in reality – an imprisonment without conviction. In plain terms, he is a victim of false imprisonment by the State. A rough and tough imprisonment that is more horrendous when the locale is not a prison or a correctional institution but a hideous DSS cell, which is no different from a dank police cell or even worse in some ramifications.”