Okey Sampson, Aba
Leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, will return to Nigeria to defend himself in court as soon as the Federal Government could guarantee his safety, his younger brother, Prince Emmanuel Kanu, has said.
The Federal Government in 2017, had dragged Kanu to a Federal High Court in Abuja where he was slammed with charges bordering on treason over his alleged role in agitating for the state of Biafra.
In the penultimate week, Justice Binta Nyako, who is handling the case, did not only withdraw the bail granted the IPOB leader, but she also issued a bench warrant for his arrest and threatened to try him in absentia if he (Kanu) persistently failed to appear in court.
Speaking on the matter, Emma Kanu said: “Nnamdi Kanu will definitely come back to Nigeria to defend himself if he wants to do so, if the need arises, he will come here. He has committed no crime known to law; everybody knows that he left the country as a result of military evasion of his house and his life was threatened, if the Nigerian government could guarantee his safety, there is no reason he should not come back.
“Justice Binta Nyako made a legal error when she said she will try the leader of IPOB in absentia. How can she give Nnamdi bench warrant and also ordered for his immediate arrest when the case has been removed from her court, when you have no jurisdiction over the case?
“I don’t know if she is well informed on how to interpret the law, the case is no longer within her jurisdiction, it’s now in Appeal Court, so, what power does she have legally to grant bench warrant and also order for his immediate arrest?
“Are you arresting him, is he a criminal? What crime has he committed? Is there anywhere written in the constitution of this country that when you chair or champion self-determination that it is against the land, there is no place, so, sometimes, the courts will do judicial errors all the time and they keep making it.”
The younger Kanu is of the view that what the powers that be are doing was to elevate the pursuit of freedom being pursued by the Biafran people, adding that the court is applying the law the way it wanted.
“What they do is to apply the law the way it suits them, but as far as we are concerned, from what we know about the constitution, they don’t apply the law reasonably well”.
On the allegation that the IPOB arrowhead collected huge sums of money from the Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2019 election, Alhaji Atiku Abubarkar to give him support, Emma said it was a lie from the pit of hell.
He alleged that the fake news was started by a man he described as Prophet Anthony Nwoko from Olokoro in Umuahia South Local Government of Abia state.
The IPOB leader’s younger brother enthused that the said Prophet Nwoko embarked on campaign of calumny against Nnamdi when he stopped giving him money.
His words: “The reason Prophet Nwoko embarked on this campaign of calumny against my brother was because Nnamdi Kanu stopped giving him financial assistance. When he was getting money from Nnamdi Kanu, he (Prophet Nwoko) said that Biafra could only come through Nnamdi Kanu. But when my brother found out that the man has derailed, he stopped assisting him.
“The allegation by Prophet Nwoko is very laughable, it was said out of frustration, he wants to be recognized by all means and he believes if he says anything against the IPOB leader, it will make him famous, that’s the reason behind that, nothing more.
“If he says that the IPOB leader collected money from PDP or Atiku, he should provide the evidence or go back to his village, Olokoro and get married. People should ask him why he ran away from his hometown.
“He has been living on some people, including my brother and when by brother discovered he derailed, he stopped giving him money. Prohet Nwoko is the person who is collecting money from politicians and turning around to blackmail by brother. The truth remains that he is looking for cheap relevance which nobody is going to give him”, he said.
On the lifting of the ban for IPOB members to participate in the 2019 election at the dying minute, he said that “the IPOB leader only lifted the ban, but he never asked anybody to go and vote and before he lifted the ban, he gave his conditions which were met. He said he will make those conditions that were met known in due time and I’m not going to pre-empt him”.