Nigerian Government has demanded that the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu be returned to prison.
Thereby urging the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja to revoke the bail it granted Kanu. FG argued that the IPOB leader had not only breached the conditions
attached to his bail but had conducted himself in manners that threaten
public peace.
Kanu was granted bail on April 25, 2017 on health ground.
It cited Kanu’s alleged threat that elections would not hold in South
East states until the Fed Government conducts referendum on whether or
not Biafra should secede and instances where the IPOB leader addressed
crowd exceeding 10 and threatened civil disobedience, as against the
court’s directive that he must not be seen in a crowd of over 10 people.
This was part of a counter-motion, filed by Magaji Labaran of the
Federal Ministry of Justice, urging the court to dismiss an application
by Kanu, seeking a review of the bail conditions.
The Federal Government said,
“The offence for which he (Kanu) is
standing trial is not ordinarily bailable; the court, not withstanding,
granted bail to the 1st defendant/applicant (Kanu) on health grounds on
25th April 2017.“Among other conditions for the bail of the 1st defendant is that he
should not be seen in a crowd exceeding 10 people; that he should not
grant any interviews, hold or attend any rallies; that he should file,
in court, medical updates of his health status every month. The bail
conditions were perfected by the 1stdefendant/applicant, which he is
currently enjoying.“Rather than observing all the conditions listed above, the 1st
defendant, in fragrant disobedience to the court order, flouted all
conditions given by the court.“The 1st defendant equally incited his members to disrupt, disallow
and boycott elections in South East states, starting with Anambra State
gubernatorial election scheduled for November 18 if the Federal
Government failed to hold referendum for the realisation of the state of
Biafra.“The 1st defendant has already declared the bail conditions given by
the court unconstitutional before approaching this court with the
application for variation. Rather than showing remorse for his actions,
the 1st defendant approached this court with an application for a review
of the same conditions for the bail which he grossly flouted.“Considering the above, that the 1st applicant has violated the
conditions on which the terms of his bail were premised, we urged this
court to commit the defendant to prison by invoking the provision of
Section 173(2)(B) of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, 2015.“We categorically state that justice would have been denied the state
by this court, if the state is not protected from the offences being
perpetrated by the 1stdefendant/applicant, who is currently on bail.”
Nnamdi Kanu and four others are being tried before the Federal High
Court, Abuja on offences relating to conspiracy and treasonable felony.