INDEPENDENT NG
The Senate has rejected any court order for the release of the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, on bail.
The Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, in stepping down the prayer for Kanu’s release said that it “will be sub judice, adding that it was offensive to the Senate House Rules.
The Senate during deliberations on a motion by Senator Izunaso Osita (APC, Imo West), also resolved against any political solutions to Kanu’s incarceration which has lasted for over two years since he was arrested in Kenya in 2021 and repatriated to Nigeria.
Recall that the Court of Appeal in Abuja had in October 2022 dismissed the remaining seven counts after Justice Binta Nyako struck out eight counts from the 15-count charge earlier preferred against Kanu by the Nigerian government.
The appellate court ordered Kanu’s release on account of his unlawful extradition from Kenya to Nigeria to face the terrorism charges.
But the government appealed the decision at the Supreme Court, declining to release the IPOB leader.
The Red Chamber also dismissed calls by the Sponsor of the motion for a political solution to the IPOB leaders’ ordeal.
In the motion, Sen. Izunaso had called the attention of the legislature to the loss of “thousands of innocent lives” arising from the crisis.
Condemning in totality, the weekly ‘sit at home’ order in the region, the lawmakers urged the federal government to collaborate with the Finnish government and extradite Simon Ekpa, the Chief protagonist of the sit-at-home order troubling the Southeast, from Finland for prosecution in Nigeria.
This is as the Chamber further resolved to invite the Minister of Foreign Affairs when appointed, and relevant stakeholders to carry out a thorough investigation as well as bringing other sponsors of the act to book.
The resolutions followed a motion, titled: “Condemning the disruptive nature of ‘sit at home’ demonstration in South East Nigeria”, by Senator Osita Izunaso (APC Imo West) and co-sponsored by 14 other senators during plenary.
Senator Izunaso, while leading the debate on the motion, lamented that “thousands of lives have been lost since this act started, and properties worth over a trillion naira have been destroyed which has resulted in investors leaving the region.”
He added that the ‘sit at home’ civil disobedience in the region has led to the disruption and destruction of economic activities as well as immeasurable losses for businesses, workers and the local economy, noting that “when people are forced to stay at home and businesses remain closed, productivity declines and income is reduced, thereby affecting livelihoods and economic growth.”
