A
Pan Igbo group, Nzuko Umunna, led by former Governor of the Central
Bank of Nigeria, Prof. Charles Soludo, on Tuesday told President
Muhammadu Buhari to immediately release the detained leader of the
Indigenous People of Biafra, Nnamdi Kanu.
The group equally said Nigeria was becoming a failed state despite the fact that it has the potentials for greatness.
The position of the group was contained in a statement read on behalf of the members by Soludo at a news conference in Abuja.
The
group said the Federal Government must obey court orders even when such
orders appear unpalatable, including the one asking it to release Kanu
on bail.
Others who signed the statement aside Soludo were Prof.
Chidi Odinkalu, Ebere Onwudiwe, Law Mefor, Rev. Fr. C. Jude C, Emeka
Ugwu-Oju, Ferdinand Agu and Tony Nnadi.
Others are Dr. Sam Amadi, Innocent Chukwuma, Collins Ugwu and Andy Wabali.
The
statement reads in part: “We demand for the urgent release of Nnamdi
Kanu, his colleagues and all prisoners of conscience, as part of the
process of the search for national cohesion and building a new Nigeria.
There is a legitimate debate among Nigerians on the Biafra question, and
there are indeed many Igbos who, like many other Nigerians, do not
agree with Nnamdi Kanu’s objective or means. It needs to be stated,
however, that no citizen of Nigeria deserves the kind of treatment meted
to him and his colleagues. Government has declined to obey the orders
of properly constituted courts in Nigeria for his release. Nnamdi Kanu
is not above the law; but, nor should he be put beneath it.
“A
situation where the state refuses to obey legitimate court orders for
his release and holds him until it gets a favourable order; moves the
goalposts endlessly through endless amendment of the charges against
him; and now seeking to try him in secret clearly constitutes
circumstances that would fall well short of the constitutional
guarantees of due process. These also would raise questions about our
country’s adherence to human rights, the rule of law and transparent
judicial process. We worry that there is now a clear design to place
Kanu beneath the law and basic constitutional guarantees of due process.
Without the rule of law, no sustainable economic progress can take
place.
“The
treasonable felony charge, which is now levied against Nnamdi Kanu has
previously been used against Joseph Tarka and Obafemi Awolowo. His trial
reminds us of the travails of these historic figures in our country
and, indeed, of the more recent military-era treason trial of President
Obasanjo. Not many people believe that Nnamdi Kanu and his colleagues
can receive a fair trial based on the law. This makes Nnamdi Kanu and
his colleagues political prisoners or prisoners of conscience.
“At
various times in Nigeria’s history, it became expedient to release such
prisoners (e.g. Obafemi Awolowo; Yakubu Gowon and Odumegwu Ojukwu, as
well as President Obasanjo) as part of national reconciliation and
nation-building. Nigeria is currently a country at war with itself. Our
considered view is that, for taking extraordinary steps to draw
international attention to Nigeria’s failing state and the urgency of
actions, Nnamdi Kanu and his colleagues deserve to be engaged and not to
be held interminably as political detainees.
“We demand that the
right to freedom of association, assembly, peaceful protest, and
expression must be accessible to all citizens of Nigeria as guaranteed
by Nigeria’s constitution. Trying to criminalize anyone who talks about
self-determination or attempts to use brute force to main and kill
innocent protesters in a democracy is a strategy for a time that we no
longer live in. This is 2017 and Nigeria is supposed to be a democracy!
More than 200 years after 11 states in the US failed their secession
bid, their Confederate flag still flies in several of them, even on
government buildings.
“Since 2012, no less than 23 U.S. states had
thousands of their citizens sign petitions to secede from the U.S.
Currently, the State of California is still pressing for Calexit. There
were protests all over the US following the election of Donald Trump.
Similar examples can be cited in many democracies. But no one is killed,
brutalized or incarcerated by the state.
“As a people, we believe
that our country is big enough for diverse voices to be heard in the
confidence that these voices in their respective ways seek to correct
our imperfections; to have a stake in constructing a more perfect union.
We convey our thanks to the Federal Government and the Acting
President, Prof. Osinbajo for reaffirming recently that citizens have
the right to peaceful protest, and we are happy that protesters were
allowed to express themselves in Lagos, Abuja and other venues recently
under police protection.”
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