(Nnamdi Kanu: ... leader of Indigenous People of Biafra and freedom broadcaster, Radio Biafra)
Full text of
letter by Ifeanyi Ejiofor, Nnamdi Kanu’s counsel, to British government’s top
representative in Nigeria
24th March, 2016
The High Commissioner
British High Commission, Abuja
19 Torrens Close
Maitama, Abuja.
Dear Sir
RE: FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA VS NNAMDI KANU & 2 ORS CHARGE NO:
FCT/ABJ/CR/383/15
NNAMDI KANU: A VICTIM OF TRAVESTY OF JUSTICE AND A CALL FOR THE BRITISH
GOVERNMENT TO BE ON THE WATCH
We are Counsel to Nnamdi Kanu, the 1st Defendant in the above captioned
criminal charge, hereinafter refers to as “Our Client”, and on whose authority
and firm instruction, we formally bring to the attention of the British
Government the deliberate design by the Nigerian Government to subvert the
course of justice in the above criminal trial.
It is repeating the obvious to state that Our Client is a full
British citizen, by virtue of which position he is entitled to all Rights,
Privileges and Protections, guaranteed under the British Laws and conventions.
We are therefore constrained in the circumstance, to formally notify the
British Government vide this medium, of our well informed reservations, and
apprehension, that Our Client is undergoing persecution in the charge above
referred, and deliberate design by the persecutors to frustrate every effort of
the Defense team aimed at giving Our Client a fair trial.
We are not under any illusion that the British Government has taken notice of
the highlights in the presidential media chat granted by President Muhammed
Buhari on the 30th day of December 2015.
Prominent among his worrisome but most prejudicial comments in the said media
chat, is his insistence, that Our Client cannot be granted bail by any Court.
The President in the referenced media chat, referred to Our client as a flight
risk for possessing dual citizenship.
It is the position of our Law, that dual citizenship is a constitutional right
of the citizens of Nigeria, clearly provided for under section 28 of the 1999
Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as amended 2011. Dual citizenship
is not a crime under our Law.
Our reservations on the President’s comment was underpinned by the findings
made in the ruling delivered on the 29th day of February 2016, by Hon. Justice
John Tsoho, wherein Our Client and the two other Defendants were denied bail.
The learned Judge, in advancing his reasons for arriving at the decision, and
in consistence with the direction conveyed in the aforesaid media chat,
specifically referred to Our Client as a flight risk, on grounds of his dual
citizenship, and on the basis of which he denied him bail.
It is apposite in the circumstance to remind the British Government, that
Judges of the Federal High Court of Nigeria are appointed by the President of
the Federal Republic of Nigeria in line with the provisions of Section 250(2)
of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as Amended 2011.
This Section provide thus; Section 250; APPOINTMENT OF CHIEF JUDGE AND JUDGES
OF THE FEDERAL HIGH COURT 250(2): “The
appointment of a person to the office of a Judge of the Federal High Court
shall be made by the President on the recommendation of the National Judicial
Council.”
We therefore submit, most respectfully Sir, that by virtue of the powers
conferred on the President in the above cited Law, the President, Commander in
Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, President
Muhammed Buhari, has overriding control over the appointment of the Federal
High Court Judges.
The learned trial Judge in denying Our Client bail on the 29th day of January,
2016, granted accelerated hearing of the substantive charge. Accelerated
hearing ordered by the learned presiding Judge in the matter connotes total
annihilation of all forms of delay in the trial intended to debilitate the
tenets of fair hearing.
Also, instructive to mention, that the Court is under duty to allow the
Defendants unfettered access to relevant materials and facilities that will aid
them in the defense of their case. This duty is not only sacrosanct and
compelling, but is provided for under Chapter (iv) of the 1999 Constitution of
the Federal Republic of Nigeria as (Amended) 2011, particularly in section
36(6) (b), among the fundamental rights of the citizens. In the course of our
defense, We are usually confronted with situation where we are handed the short
end of the stick in the face of deliberate refusal/delay in obliging us copies
of the Ruling delivered in open Court.
The 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as
Amended (2011), specifically section 36(7), allows a Court or Tribunal, only
seven days, in a criminal trial, to keep records of the proceedings, Rulings
and Judgment delivered therein, within which, it shall be made available to the
Accused person(s) or person applying through him.
It is disheartening, that our successive applications for the
certified true copies of Rulings delivered by the Honourable Court, on the 9th
February 2016, 19th February 2016, and 7th March 2016, have not receive any
attention. Either by deliberate design or omission, the Rulings, above
referred, are still being shielded from us as at today.
It is more painful, when it comes to mind that these Rulings are
not only fundamental but a necessity to a successful transmission of records of
the Court to the Appellate Court. The Court has always been served with copies
of our Notices of Appeal, anytime an application for the certified true copy of
the Ruling is submitted, which ordinarily, would have spurred it for
expeditious action but the reverse is usually the case.
On the face of this frustration, the defense is confronted with
apparent dilemma in offering our client the best legal services he deserved, in
the defense of these bogus charges preferred against him.
The Application brought by the Federal Government of Nigeria, requesting the
Court to protect the identities of the prosecution witnesses by the aid of
facial masks and screens while giving evidence in the course of proceeding, was
heard on the 19th day of February 2016.
Upon the hearing of the aforesaid application, and our objection,
the Court declined to grant the application, and consequently ordered that the
hearing of the matter should be conducted in the open. Members of the public
and press were also ordered by the Court to continue to participate in the
proceedings.
Surprisingly, on the 7th day of March, 2016, when the trial was
scheduled to commence, the Director of Public Prosecutions orally applied that
the subsisting order of the Honourable Court, made on the 19th day of February,
2016, be varied.
The Learned D.P.P, insisted that the prosecution witnesses have
refused to attend Court to give evidence, unless their identities are shielded
from the public. On the strength of the above application, and despite our
vehement opposition to the application, the Honourable Court made a volte-face,
and proceeded to grant their request, by varying the very order it made on the
19th day of February, 2016.
Though we have successfully lodged an appeal against this
perverse ruling of the Honourable Court, but it is now incumbent on the British
Authority to turn their torchlight on the process complained of, against the
obvious persecution of its own citizen.
Relevant to mention that the detail accounts provided by our
Client in his vicious experience in the hands of the operatives of the State
Security Services while in their custody, revealed how the investigating
officers boasted to him that the British Government was instrumental to his
arrest and dare him to watch out for future development in the matter. It is
therefore, our humble expectation that the demonstration of palpable commitment
by the British Government will to a larger extent neutralize the concerns and
fears raised by the remark under reference. It is on the strength of this
obvious maneuvering and deliberate design to subvert the course of justice that
we most humbly request the British authority to begin a race against time, for
more noticeable impact in this matter.
Attached herewith for your ease of reference, are copies of our
press briefing granted on the 18th day of March 2016, Certificates of
registration of Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and Radio Biafra
respectively, in the United Kingdom Registration certificates of Indigenous
people of Biafra (IPOB) in other countries of the world, and video clips of how
the Nigeria Military personnel massacred innocent and Defenseless members of
Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) in Aba-Abia State, on the 9th day of
February 2016.
We shall keep you abreast of every development in this matter as
we progress.
Accept the assurances of our deepest regards Sir.
Yours faithfully
FOR: I.C EJIOFOR & CO
_____________________
Hon. Ifeanyi Ejiofor
(Principal Partner)
NNMADI KALU LETTER TO THE BIRTISH GOVERNMENT 2.pdf
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