Residents of Awka, Anambra State, weekend, said they were ready to continue Monday sit-at-home if the federal government refuses to release Mazi Nnamdi Kanu as directed by the Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja.
A trader at Amansea, Chief Ikechuku Ijele, told our correspodent that, “The refusal of the federal government to obey the court order will spur us to sustain our Monday sit-at-home. It shows that Kanu is being persecuted, and no more prosecuted.
“If the federal government is disobeying court orders, who else is exempted?”
Othniel Okeke, a teacher, said, “We celebrated Kanu’s triumph, but it is unbelievable what the attorney general of the federation is saying that Kanu was only discharged but not acquitted.
“We have gotten used to Monday sit-at-home, but following the court ruling, we began to adjust towards resuming work on Mondays again. Sadly, what the AGF is saying is not good to the ear. This is even the right time to observe the sit-at-home so that the international community will hear our cries.”
A driver, Matthew Eze, said, “I have got used to the sit-at-home on Mondays. But when the judgement came, I began to adjust. But if they are not ready to release him, it will even be worse.”
Recall that the appellate court, led by Justice Jummai Hanatu, last Thursday, stated that the “Federal Government flagrantly violated the law when it forcefully renditioned Kanu from Kenya to the country for the continuation of his trial; and that such extra-ordinary rendition, without adherence to due process of the law, was a gross violation of all international conventions, protocols and guidelines that Nigeria is signatory to, as well as a breach of the Appellant’s fundamental human rights.”
AGF Abubakar Malami, SAN, had said that the Appeal Court’s judgement which discharged Kanu did not acquit him, hence the federal government would explore more legal options to prosecute Kanu.
Aloy Ejimakor, Kanu’s special counsel, had earlier described Malami’s position as ‘amounting to a burgeoning holding charge which is impermissible in our jurisprudence’.
According to him, “No new charges 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.”
