Why We Can’t Release Nnamdi Kanu – FG Tells Court
The Federal Government has justified it’s refusal to obey court’s judgment, ordering it to release Nnamdi Kanu, the detained leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).
Recall that an Abuja division of the appeal court had on October 13, 2022, discharged Kanu of all terrorism charges levelled against him, ruling that he should be released from the detention of the Department of State Service (DSS).
READ THE FULL COURT OF APPEAL JUDGEMENT DISCHARGING NNAMDI KANU
Addressing the appeal court on Monday, October 24 during a hearing on a stay of execution it filed against the ruling, the FG represented by David Kwase, an Assistant State Counsel in the office of the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF), Abubakar Malami argued that Nnamdi Kanu cannot be released as he poses a flight risk and was a threat to national security.
According to Kwase, the fundamental right of Kanu should be put to hold for the nation’s interest.
“It is important to appreciate the gamut of depositions in our application. The Respondent is a flight risk person and one of the grounds of our application is that this matter touches on national security of the State.
“Once there is a threat to national security, human rights of any individual can be suspended until such threat is taken care of.”
“The defendant has shown that he has the capacity to jump bail or to escape from lawful custody.
“There is reasonable intelligence that the enforcement of judgement of this court, pending determination of our appeal at the Supreme Court, may impact negatively on the declining security in the South East.”
“No court can close its eyes on activities happening around it. As we speak, the entire social media is awash with threat to security in the country.
“We believe that there is an exceptional circumstance to warrant this court to grant our application.
“We urge this court to resolve the sole issue we raised and find our application meritorious, in the interest of justice and unity of the country,” Kwase said.
