Nnamdi Kanu’s Special Counsel, Aloy Ejimakor has said that the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra must be released before the federal government can argue its case at the Supreme Court.
He made the statement while reacting to the Appeal Court ruling, which discharged and acquitted Kanu.
Ejimakor also criticized the Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami for saying the Federal Government would initiate further charges against Kanu.
Ejimakor said Malami was wrong, stressing that it was unconstitutional for the Federal Government to initiate new charges against him.
Yesterday, the Appeal Court discharged and acquitted Kanu of the terrorism charges levelled against him by the Nigerian Government.
A three-judge panel of the appellate court ruled that Kanu was illegally extracted from Kenya by Nigerian agents in a process known internationally as extraordinary rendition, which rights experts define as an abduction.
The judges held that the Nigerian Government could not charge Kanu for any offence in the country until federal authorities explained how they moved him from Nairobi to Abuja in June 2022.
Ejimakor said: “The AGF is wrong. If the FG refuses or stalls on releasing Kanu merely because it desires to initiate further or new charges, it will amount to a holding charge situation which has been held as unconstitutional by the Supreme Court.
“Further, no new charge can stick against Kanu because, in the present circumstance, the extraordinary rendition is an abiding factor that has created a permanent barrier to his prosecution, at least for now.
“The judgment of the Court of Appeal has grandfathered a continuing lack of prosecutorial jurisdiction, which can only be overcome by a few things I am not at liberty to disclose here because it will amount to giving legal advice to the FG. Yet, before any further charge can have a toga of legality or constitutionality, Kanu has to be released first.”