Aloy Ejimakor, the Special Counsel to Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), asserted on Saturday that the Supreme Court, through a Certified True Copy (CTC) of its judgment, has conclusively settled the controversy surrounding Kanu’s alleged bail violation.
Ejimakor emphasized that the apex court not only dispelled the notion that Kanu jumped bail but also clarified that his bail should never have been revoked.
The roots of this legal saga can be traced back to 2017 when Justice Binta Nyako of the Federal High Court in Abuja granted bail to Kanu.
However, the situation escalated after a military invasion of Kanu’s ancestral home in Umuahia, Abia State, in September 2017, prompting his exile and subsequent absence from his trial.
The absence fueled a prolonged public debate on whether Kanu had indeed violated bail conditions.
This debate persisted until June 2021 when Kanu was transferred from Kenya to Nigeria.
The Appeal Court later discharged and acquitted Kanu of all terrorism charges, but this decision faced reversal by the Supreme Court, which transferred the case back to the Federal High Court.
In the Certified True Copy of the December 2023 judgment, the Supreme Court explicitly declared that Kanu did not jump bail.
Aloy Ejimakor, shedding light on this development, stated, “As Of Counsel, I had joined in this debate and always made it clear that Nnamdi Kanu, in the unique circumstance of the military invasion, did not jump bail.”
He pointed to the first judicial confirmation of this stance in January 2022 when the High Court of Abia State declared the military invasion a flagrant violation of Kanu’s constitutional rights, awarding him N1 billion in damages and a public apology.
Ejimakor underscored, “In addition to ruling that Nnamdi Kanu never jumped bail, the Supreme Court also held that the Federal High Court should never have revoked his bail.”
The lawyer argued that the prosecution deceived the court on the bail-jumping issue and criticized the issuance of the bench warrant that led to Kanu’s extradition as obtained through deception.
In light of the Supreme Court’s comprehensive judgment, Ejimakor urged the media, the public, and relevant officials to abide by the ruling and cease perpetuating the false and defamatory narrative that Nnamdi Kanu had jumped bail.
The call for restraint seeks to uphold the integrity of the judicial process and prevent the dissemination of misinformation surrounding this complex legal case.
